Devil's Hunt
by Winged Element
Summary: Nero knew he shouldn't have touched that lamp… and yet here he was, tramping around a city he doesn't recognize, filled with people he doesn't know… if you want to go as far as calling them people… The Hunter was intrigued by this creature wandering the city. It didn't seem to be a beast, but was definitely too monstrous to be human...
1. Power I Need

A/N: Okay so these first few chapters may be a bit spotty as I get this one going, but I'm very excited to move onto a different fiction! It's literally been _years_ since I started Legends so now I'm super stoked to do something different, especially since I try to use fanfiction just to keep my wheels turning for my original works. So without further ado, _let the hunt begin…_

Disclaimer: I own the platinum trophy for Bloodborne? Does that count? Yeah didn't think so…

Power… I Need…

"Hey and kid?" Nero looked over his shoulder at Dante where he was leaning back, his eyes were still on Lady, who was lining up a shot on the pool table, but his voice was directed at him. "Be careful." he said, Nero rolled his eyes at the half devil's overprotective nature.

"Yeah yeah," he said, waving him off "got any other gems? Nico's already waiting on me."

"Get out of here punk." the older hunter sighed before picking up his stick to take his own shot. Nero swung out of the shop, the bell over the door tinkling cheerfully as he did. He sighed deeply, the dirty smell of the city hanging over him. He was really only taking this job as a favor to the older hunter, he and Nico were on their way out of town and it was on the way. He slammed the door of the RV beside him and immediately opened a window, trying and failing to wave away the cigarette smoke that had already filled the front of the cabin. Nico just smirked and started the vehicle.

"What'd he want?" she asked out of the side of her mouth as they pulled down the narrow streets of Capulet.

"Nothing important." the partial devil shrugged, checking his ammo and fuel stores for his weapons, expertly balancing them with the bouncing of the RV as Nico flew down the street.

"He cares about you, he just doesn't know how to show it." she said with a smirk. Nero scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"The only thing that geezer cares about is fighting and pizza." the hunter said, Nico just laughed and shook her head, glancing down at the scrap of paper that Lady had written the address down on.

"I swear, I don't know how Kyrie deals with it, your whole family is emotionally incompetent." she drawled. Nero grumbled something and maneuvered into the back to pick out a couple Breakers to take with him. He wasn't sure he'd even need them, the call had sounded like only a single demon, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Nico came to a screeching halt, as she usually did, honestly Nero didn't know how she had a license… The partial devil jumped out of the RV and approached the ramshackle warehouse that the caller had heard the noises from. Honestly, these were the worst types of calls, the ones that could just as easily be a stray dog or a couple of junkies getting a bit too… into things. But Nero couldn't justify just leaving them be, neither could Dante, which was why he found himself here… he sighed and pulled out Blue Rose, if it was just a couple of humans, a gun usually provided all the motivation he'd need to get them to clear out… The warehouse was silent as he approached and he wondered if they had the right place, he looked inside, eyes adjusting easily to the gloom of the inside of the building. It looked empty too and he wondered if he'd been dragged out here just to look into an empty building… A dim glow caught his eye and he wandered inside.

"Who put a lamp in here…?" he mumbled, crouching down to get a better look at it. It looked like a gas lamp, like some of the ones that were posted around the older buildings in Fortuna that for whatever reason, hadn't been replaced yet. It glimmered an odd shade of lavender but it wasn't tipping off any of his senses for demons so the hunter assumed that it was safe… at least relatively so. He reached out and touched the surface, it was cold to the touch, despite being lit, a fragment of the metal caught his finger and Nero hissed as it broke skin, automatically lifting it to his mouth despite the fact that it healed up almost immediately. He grumbled under his breath and the single drop of his blood rolled down the lantern and plipped onto the floor. Nero looked at the lamp for another moment and was about to brush it off as an oddity but nothing more when the ground around the lamp _rippled _like water and then a small skeletal monster sprung from the ripples.

"What the…?" Nero stood abruptly, startled by the sudden appearance of the creature. He stood and tried to take a step back only to realize that the creatures had hold of his boot. He tripped, sprawling flat on his back. The creatures, there were dozens of them now, clambering over his body. The partial devil yelled, trying to claw his way out but his vision was quickly covered by hundreds of tiny, cold, slimy hands.

The hands were gone, the feeling of touch gone, and echoing _voice…? Noise…? _Fractured in the back of his mind, the hunter shook his head, trying to clear his mind, his vision. He immediately regretted this choice as he glimpsed _something_ that his mind did not want to make sense of, it was _enormous_… too many joints, too many limbs, too many _eyes_…

Nero surged upward with a yell, only to find himself in a small building. It didn't look like the warehouse… how had he gotten here? A noise, a growl, echoed from outside and his reflexes took over as he stood, widening his stance and reaching back for Red Queen. He walked over to the exit, nudging the door open only to leap out of the way as something _large_ barrelled through. It was covered in blackish fur and scraps of fabric that the hunter didn't have the time to sort out. It turned to him, saliva and blood dripping from its maw. It licked over teeth that were too big for its face as it advanced, snarling and slavering.

"Well you're an ugly one aren't ya?" Nero said, revving Red Queen and pulling on his demonic abilities, clawed and feathered ethereal wings materializing over his shoulders. The creatures haunches bunched and it leapt and the partial devil dodged easily to the side, Red Queen slicing through its side, igniting fur and fabric alike. The creature howled and spun, faster than Nero anticipated, claws slicing through the fabric of his jeans. He growled back at the thing and swung with his wing, the ethereal fist slamming into it and knocking it back. He slammed Red Queen in before it could regain its footing. Thankfully it stayed down.

"What the hell is going on…?" Nero sighed, he glanced out the now open door to see a figure standing in it.

"The line between man and beast is blurred…" they said, grip tightening on one of the goriest weapons Nero had ever seen, blood dripping off the teeth of the metal. With a loud 'clank' it was extended out before the figure's body.

"Whoa…" Nero raised his hands as the figure advanced "I'm not here to- shit!" he dodged to the side as the figure swung. He met the gory makeshift weapon with Red Queen, surprised at the force behind the blow.

"Will you slow down?! I just want to talk-fuck! Stop that!" he aimed a shot and clipped the person's thigh. They stumbled and took a punch from the partial devil's wing, flying backward. Nero wasn't sure what he was expecting, but seeing them roll to their feet and jam something into their uninjured leg with a hiss was definitely not it. He decided that whatever he was facing was either not human or completely deranged, or both and went on the offensive. The other person surprised him with a firearm at one point but Nero was eventually able to overpower them, finishing them off with a shot to the chest.

"Power… I need…" the figure said as they fell forward motionless.

"Tell me about it…" Nero grumbled.

A/N: Okay so this first ones a bit longer than I usually do them but I'm very pleased with it, hope someone else enjoys it too!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	2. Ahh Paleblood

A/N: Alright, chapter two, meaning I'll be putting up chapter one this week! Woo! I'm very excited to get into this, it may also give me some excuse to play more Bloodborne… when I'm not digging into Death Stranding… I'm trying to do all the things I planned on today and then I'll reward myself by going to pick it up :)

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these series, nope, not at all.

Ahh...Paleblood…

The Hunter paused to breathe, hand resting on the side of a building as their breath fogged the air outside their mask. The nights seemed colder now, but the Hunter wasn't sure if it was they were actually colder or if their perception was changing… They shook their head, pushing off the wall, staying put was a good way to end up dead, a lesson learned the hard way… They had gone back to Iosefka's clinic, trying to piece together some of the mysteries that had arisen after killing Rom, something that the Hunter was still questioning the morality of. The spider hadn't seemed… overly aggressive on its own, seeming to want little more than to protect itself and its brood. The Hunter smiled beneath their mask, they were starting to sound like Djura, sympathizing with beasts…

Crashing and the sound of fire caught the attention of the Hunter, were the beasts fighting amongst themselves again? They began to work their way forward, toward the noise and heard a mild cursing and raised a brow; most of the angry villagers seemed incapable of any noise lower than a loud shout. They looked down the stairway into the house, trying to get their eyes to adjust only to see a man standing over the body of a scourge beast, breath coming in short pants. As their body blocked the light, the other looked up, the strange wing-like structures rising off the beast's back.

"The line between man and beast is blurred…" the Hunter breathed, remembering the note they'd seen at Byrgenwerth, adjusting their grip on their saw cleaver and preparing to take down this new sort of beast, flicking it out to its full length. The figure raised its hands over its head but whether to unleash something or to surrender, the Hunter was uncertain. It spoke but the Hunter had had their trust betrayed too many times, seen too many things that tried to masquerade as men before showing their beastly nature… They swung at the beast, who blocked with a weapon of their own, the Hunter disengaged and was surprised by the pistol shot that clipped them in the leg. Another blood-drunk hunter? They had time to wonder before the wing-like structure struck them across the face, the taste of crimson splashing across their tongue. They jammed a blood vial into their leg, the taste and smell of the stuff in the air igniting their own bloodlust. They shot up but clearly this beast was clever, it came at them with a ferocity that the Hunter hadn't seen in some time and they were surprised and choked when the bullet tore through their chest…

"Power… I need…" the Hunter managed, thinking of the next time as their mind collapsed into blackness.

-Devil's Hunt-

The Hunter took a deep breath, rising from their position next to the lantern, looking around, getting a sense of their location in the city. It had taken some practice to get over the sense of disorientation that came with waking up in a place that was different from the one in which you had… last closed your eyes. The Hunter found it best not to dwell on the repeated deaths, it was concerning that it was starting to make more and more sense… as though existence need not include death, one simply had to exist on more than one… they shook their head, stop. There was a beast to contend with, it had been some time since a lesser beast had taken them down… the last time had been… unpleasant as well. The memory of the long hair and twitching arms leapt, unbidden to the Hunter's mind as they worked their way back to the house that the beast had been in. They had since moved but the sudden sound of fighting betrayed where they'd gone. The Hunter followed the noise to find the beast in battle with another, flinging it up into the sky with their sword before grabbing it with those strange wing-like things and hurling it back to the ground with a shout.

"And stay down!" the beast flicked the blood from its sword then seemed to notice the Hunter, who was already on the move, trying to take advantage of the beast's weariness. It cursed loudly and sidestepped the attack. The two of them danced and the Hunter couldn't help but think back on Henryk. Despite the man being beyond saving, it had been an exhilarating fight… The beast sidestepped the wrong way and the Hunter caught them in the side with the saw cleaver, it fell to its knees and the Hunter leveled their pistol at their head. Before they could pull the trigger there was a flash of light and a true beast stood before them. It looked different from any beast the Hunter had seen before but they weren't in the mindset to care… The dance continued, but a beast was a beast and the Hunter soon settled a bullet between its eyes. It fell backward and the Hunter sighed, digging in their pouch for a blood vial, hissing as they injected it in their veins, they'd wasted too much on this one fight…

The last thing the Hunter expected however was to be tackled off their feet, they squirmed viciously, snarling and trying to reach their weapons but their hands were solidly pinned by their sides, their head held by a clawed hand. They expected to feel death overcome them but nothing happened, all they could hear was the sound of heavy breathing behind them.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?!" they heard, it was the beast… but it should've been dead… unless…

"Are you seeking the Paleblood as well?" the Hunter asked. There was an extended pause behind them.

"Ahhh… paleblood…? What on earth are you talking about?" the voice said.

"Do you dream?" the Hunter tried, perhaps they hadn't been informed of Paleblood, that it was the key, the escape, but if they still dreamed…

"What?"

A/N: Okay, I'm enjoying this a lot :)

Til next time,

-Winged Element


	3. You're Not Entirely Human, Are You?

A/N: Alright, I'm listening to a compilation of the Dark Souls soundtrack, and I've forgotten how good it is :) Also I'm excited to sit down tonight and play more of Death Stranding, there's been so much exposition and I'm still soooo confused, it's great :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the beautiful bloody dance that either of these games are.

You're Not Entirely Human, Are You

Nero just raised a brow as the body of the person faded, tiny skeletal creatures grabbing at the cloth and pulling it into the liquid-like ground. It was the same way he'd found himself in this strange world. He should have tried to grab one of the creatures but he thought back to the… _thing_ that he'd dreamt up in the in-between and paused. In that time the body and the tiny creatures faded, leaving no trace but the blood on the pavement. Nero shook his head, what was wrong with this city? He'd only been here for twenty minutes tops and he'd already fought a demon he'd never seen and killed a madman. He didn't like killing humans but this felt like a clear-cut case of self defence. The partial devil pulled out his phone in hopes of calling Nico or Dante or… well anyone at this point but the tiny blinking 'x' where his service should have been shut that idea down quickly.

"Shit…" he muttered, looking around, perhaps he'd get some service higher up but… he wasn't going to stake any money on it. With no better ideas to preoccupy him he started through the cramped streets.

The first thing he noticed was the extreme amount of _death_ that just hung throughout the city. Corpses and caskets lined the streets and more than once the hunter had to duck into alleyways to avoid citizens who seemed to have adopted the "shoot first, ask questions never" policy. He couldn't necessarily blame them, the streets were also littered with strange, bestial demons that more resembles werewolves or trolls of fairy tales, rather than the demons and devils that Nero was accustomed to. No matter what they were though, they still died to fire and steel like he was used to, launching one into the air and slamming it back down with a triumphant

"And stay down!" as the body crunched upon impact. He landed lightly, flicking some of the blood from Red Queen before noticing the person coming in toward them silently.

"Shit!" the partial devil shouted, quickly sidestepping the attack before confusion overwhelmed him. It looked like the same person from before… but… he'd put a bullet in their heart… He did the best he could to fend off their attacks, hoping to wear them down and get them to talk… This was clearly a mistake, this person, if it was the same person, had clearly learned from the last time and got past his guard, the huge chunk of metal they were weilding slamming into the partial devil's side. He grunted, falling to his knees and the madman leveled a pistol at his head.

"Fuck this…" he mumbled, pulling on his demonic power and Triggered. Any thought of trying to wear them down flew from his head as he fought with this madman. Perhaps he'd put too much reliance on the sheer power that his demonic form would grant him when the other whirled and fired, pain lancing through the partial devil's head.

He woke not but moments later, hearing a low hiss from this other person. They were crouched down, facing away from the partial devil. He stood, and promptly tackled them, settling his weight across their hips and taking advantage of the claws on his wings to help hold them down.

"What the _hell _is going on here?!" he snapped, wanting some damn answers.

"Are you seeking the Paleblood as well?" they asked and Nero just blinked, utterly baffled by the response.

"Ahhh… paleblood…? What on earth are you talking about?" he asked, hoping for a more coherent answer but instead the person beneath them asked.

"Do you dream?" they sounded hopeful but Nero was just more confused.

"What?" he asked, he gripped the person's wrists tighter "You better start making some goddamn sense or I'm just going to kill you again and again until it sticks."

"No… I suppose you don't…" they muttered. Nero just sighed, they weren't struggling, which seemed like a good sign, he tried a simpler question.

"What's your name?" the partial devil wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one that the body beneath him went completely slack.

"My… name…" they managed, it was barely audible to the devil hunter. Okay, so much for simple questions.

"Yeah, what do your friends call you?" he prompted.

"I don't have-"

"If you don't have friends, what can _I _call you?" Nero growled. There was a long pause and Nero was about to repeat his question when the person beneath him spoke softly.

"Katherine. That's what it was… I'd nearly forgotten…" they were still completely slack beneath the partial devil, who was wondering if he was making the best decision, befriending a madwoman like this. On one hand, she didn't seem all right in the head, but on the other she seemed to be a damn good fighter and these streets seemed far from safe.

"Okay, Katherine, if I let you up are you going to attack me again?" he asked

"You're not going to kill me, beast?" she returned. Nero raised a brow and laughed lightly.

"Why would I bother learning your name if that was the case?"

"No, I will not attack you, provided you don't turn on me, beast." she said. Nero stood, allowing her to stand. Now that she wasn't immediately trying to kill him he was able to get a good look at her and his eyes immediately snapped to her eyes that seemed to burn a dull red as she regarded him. He dismissed his wings with a thought and those red eyes narrowed.

"My name's Nero." He offered, holding a hand out. She ignored it, instead saying.

"You're not human, are you." it was a statement, not a question.

"Not entirely." Nero conceded. She nodded, as though that were a perfectly normal answer before she pulled out a small glass bottle, jabbed a syringe into it and drew the suspiciously thick, red fluid into it before stabbing it into her leg with a small sigh.

"Uh, is that blood?" the partial devil asked, questioning now more than ever the person he had decided to befriend.

"Oh, do you require a vial? I don't have much to spare but…" she held out the blood filled container.

"Ah, no thanks." he said, Savior above what had he gotten himself into…?

A/N: This is so much fun :)

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	4. What's That Smell?

A/N: I should probably be working on other things but… eh, I'm gonna do this instead. This is way more entertaining.

Disclaimer: I, shocker, don't own either of them. Nope, not even one.

What's That Smell?

The Hunter had been startled to realize that their own name had escaped their grasp. Startled, but upon considering it… it was reasonable. Names meant little in the face of nightmares. They were so often called "The Good Hunter" or "Hunter" or "Plague Ridden Rat!" that their name had… slipped their mind. This… Nero character was intriguing. He freely admitted to not being entirely human and seemed to be of a fairly sound mind despite that. That wasn't something that many could attest to, even the Hunter found their thoughts spiralling out of sanity from time to time; it was just a product of the madness surrounding them. Nero's reaction upon seeing the blood vial had been… curious however.

"Are you certain? A shot to the head can be… debilitating." they said, hesitating before slipping the vial back into the pocket they'd retrieved it from. Nero's brow furrowed

"...yes… it's normally fatal. I just got a lucky draw in the gene pool. What is this place?" he asked. The Hunter did not have a moment to answer however as the loud footsteps of a troll echoed down the narrow alley. It lumbered toward them, anger apparent in its beady eyes as it raised the piece of cobblestone and the Hunter tensed, ready to leap out of the way… A shot rang out and the troll fell to a knee. The Hunter did not hesitate but instead stepped up to the troll, a trill surging through their veins as they jammed a hand through the beast's chest and yanking it back away, guts and viscera falling to the ground in deliciously wet 'plops'. The Hunter grinned beneath their mask as the body slowly fell backward, twitching in its death throes. They turned back to the strange beast behind them, breath coming slightly quicker, ready for the next chance to spill blood. The person behind them paused, looking at them with furrowed brows and a slightly raised hand. The Hunter took another breath, the beast in their own veins calming slowly and they shook some of the blood from their hand.

"Y'know I think the saw thing you've got would've done the trick." he said, putting his own sword behind his back. The Hunter laughed lightly, the moment seeming far funnier than it should have been. The stranger continued to look at them warily as the giggles died down.

"We should move, the beasts will be attracted to the smell of blood." they said, stepping into the alleyway, over the body of the troll.

"Where are we going?" Nero asked as the Hunter heard them following behind.

"Someplace safe." The Hunter responded, looking along the street, trying to figure the best way to Oedon Chapel. It had been a long time since they'd had to work their way along the streets rather than simply using the lantern and the Dream.

"Yeah, real specific." Nero muttered behind them and the Hunter chuckled under their breath. Perhaps having this stranger alongside them for the near future would be good for them. Help them keep a small grasp on their humanity.

-Devil's Hunt-

The Hunter learned along the way that Nero was quite the capable fighter; the Hunter had suspected this, seeing as they'd been taken down by this beast, but it was still nice to know that they hadn't been _that_ off their game. The two of them arrived at the Chapel some time later, it was hard to keep track of time anymore… all the nights seemed to bleed together, if they changed to day at all. The Hunter struggled to remember the last time they'd seen the sun… They shook their head, collapsing the ribcage of the church doctor in front of them and heading their way into the Chapel beyond. Nero paused before walking in, his fingers twitching strangely.

"There's something here." he said, The Hunter raised a single brow at them.

"This is the only safe place in the Waking World that I know of. Perhaps it is what protects this place."

"...maybe…" he looked around as he entered, wrinkling his nose as he did. "What's that smell?" he asked, waving a hand in front of his nose. The Hunter paused, realizing what was bothering the man.

"It is the incense. It is meant to ward off beasts. If you're not entirely human…" the Hunter kept their voice low, trying to keep it from the others in the chapel. There were only a few of them, but the ornery man liked to gossip and the Hunter wasn't sure how they'd take to knowing that the man with them was a beast himself.

"Yeah but I'm part devil, not… whatever these things are. They're not demons are they?" he asked, settling down on the steps, far enough from most of the denizens that they couldn't hear unless they wanted to move closer. The Hunter settled next to him, realizing suddenly that he was taller than they were and surreptitiously moved up a step. Nero gave them a strange glance, but said nothing.

"They're beasts… but if you want to call them demons, they're near enough." something strange tickled at the back of their mind at the word, some long forgotten memory. "But that's not what you're thinking of, is it?"

"No, where I'm from they're different." he shook his head "They're monsters, just like here, for sure but they're… less human?" he sighed "That's not right either, they're different from these beasts, take my word for it."

"And you are partially one of these demons?" the Hunter asked, glancing over at Nero.

"Devil, but yeah, same difference. What about you, you seemed a bit more than human there with that big guy." he shot back gently, the Hunter sighed and looked at their gloved hands.

"I am… uncertain where I stand. And… I'm not so sure that I want to know."

A/N: Again, I'm having so much fun with this, though it's hard to slip into the Hunter's perspective, what with their slippery grasp on reality.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	5. There's Still Time

A/N: Alrighty, here we go, I'm trying to tell myself that I need to finish working on my saw cleaver for my Good Hunter cosplay tonight, like it's finished but I have no means of holding it in the open and closed positions so right now it just kinda flops around stupidly… but… yeah… I'm gonna type now…

Disclaimer: I own a replica saw cleaver if that counts for anything?

Guest: I suppose I could, perhaps sometime when I've got the mystical thing known as free time and am in a romantic mood. Thanks for the review!

There's Still Time

Nero watched the person next to him, she seemed to have only a limited grasp on reality and he was uncertain how much he could push her before she might snap. What if the next thing he said pushed her over the edge? He remembered the way that she'd looked at him after tearing the guts out of that troll-like monster in the alleyway, a mad sort of glee in her eyes. It was hard to read her expression what with half of her face covered most of the time and her more alien eyes didn't help the situation. He had some experience with trying to read Dante's expressions in his Devil Trigger form but for some reason that came more naturally than trying to determine how stable the woman beside him was. Katherine pulled down the scarf that she had covering her face, and the contrast between the clean skin beneath her cheekbones and the blood that spattered around her eyes made him laugh.

"What?" she asked, looking at him curiously. Nero figured he probably wasn't much better but the stripe of gook around the hunter's eyes struck him as funny.

"You… you ah, have a little bit of blood around your eyes." he said, pointing vaguely. She frowned and flicked a bit more away from her gloves.

"It is an unfortunate side effect of the Beast Plague; though I'm accustomed to anyone caring anymore." she said softly. Nero just shook his head.

"I don't, it just looked a little funny. Where are we by the way?" the partial devil looked around the chapel that they'd entered into, it was unfamiliar to him, in fact, this whole town was completely foreign. Even the moon, which hung huge and low and red, seemed strange and out of place.

"This town is Yharnam, home of blood ministration." she said, automatically, almost sounding like she was repeating something she'd heard or read.

"Is that why you stabbed some weird blood into your leg?" he asked, wondering what on earth that was all about. He's seen some weird stuff in his time but it just seemed so… unsanitary?

"It is special blood, it has healing properties." she responded, her hand going into her pocket where Nero had seen her place it before.

"Uh huh…" he said, not certain he believed that stabbing strange blood into oneself was the best idea but he wasn't going to argue with her for the moment. "Have you… always been here?" he asked, "And why is everyone… crazy?" Katherine paused, eyes drifting around the small chapel. Nero hadn't asked about the others here but none of them had jumped up to attack them so they ranked as 'okay enough' in his book.

"No, I'm an outsider, like you. However I don't recall much prior to my arrival, I know I had been ill but with what and where I'd been before…" she shrugged "As for this city. It has fallen to what is known as the 'Scourge of the Beasts', it is an infection, a corruption of the blood."

"And you still think it's a good idea to inject that weird blood into yourself?" Nero couldn't help himself. Thankfully she didn't seem put off by this statement, merely pulled the blood from her pocket and looked at it.

"You are correct, we Hunters are not immune to the Scourge. But if we don't clear the streets of those who have already fallen, who will?" she said, pocketing the blood once more before looking at him. "And you Nero? Who were you prior to entering this city? Can you recall?"

"Yeah," he said, meeting the rather intense gaze she was giving him, "I was a demon hunter, well, still am. I was on a mission, saw a weird looking lamp, touched it, still regretting that, saw something incredibly awful and then found myself here." he said, Katherine touched a hand to his shoulder and he looked to her and her strange eyes.

"You can see the lanterns?" she asked "So you do dream."

"I… still don't know what you're talking about." he said

"When you die, where do awaken?" she said, as though dying were a fairly regular occurrence.

"I… haven't died yet?" Nero said, rather confused.

"Come then, we'll go to the lantern to the Dream." she stood, walking up the stairs to a small lantern that was situated in the middle of the room. Nero frowned at it.

"That's the same lantern that I saw in the warehouse, that's the thing that brought me here." he grumbled. Katherine glanced at him and then at the doorway when the sounds of one of the creepy dudes from before leaked inside.

"Are you sure it's okay to just leave these people here with open doors like that?" Nero asked, he got the impression that they were leaving but he didn't know how or where.

"There's still time, the night, and the dream, are long." she said, kneeling before the lantern and grabbing his wrist "Come. The first time the dream can be… disorienting." she said as the small, creepy skeletal creatures popped up around her knees. Nero fought to remain still as they grabbed ahold of his boots and his vision whited out…

A/N: So I actually did go to Lowes to pick up the stuff I need in the midst of this chapter, so now I should be able to assemble my saw cleaver the rest of the way and be pretty much done with my Good Hunter cosplay and then I can move onto Maria.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	6. I Didn't Ask for This

A/N: Okay, gonna finish this up and then work on some D&D stuff, gotta prep cause I'm dming this upcoming weekend, and it's always like exams. I have the best intentions of doing stuff ahead of time but then… end up cramming right before anyway ^^;

Disclaimer: I now own a Saw Cleaver replica that transforms? Does that count for anything?

Notreadyfojojo: I could but I'm pretty busy person and it would be longer between chapters if I did, these are bite size enough that I can sit down and punch them out in one sitting. I wasn't planning on bringing Dante into this one, but maybe I'll do a short one sometime when I'm feeling some romance. I hope you're enjoying it though and thanks for the review!

I Didn't Ask for This

The Hunter opened their eyes in the dream once more, and heard Nero gasp out behind them. They looked over their shoulder and saw the devil hunter shudder once, a cold sweat glistening across their forehead; at least they seemed to be healed from the damage that they'd taken earlier.

"Did you see that?" he asked, the wing-like structures appearing over his shoulders, it seemed to be an unconscious reaction, the Hunter made a mental note.

"See what?" they asked, tilting their head and offering a hand. Nero took it and rose to his feet a bit shakily.

"That… _thing_. I… I don't know how to describe it." he shuddered again "I'm not sure I could…" his blue eyes burned into the Hunter's "It spoke. Said something to _me_. Do you ever feel like you're trying to remember something but it slips away, like a dream upon waking?"

"All the time." the Hunter smiled, pulling their mask down from their face, they were safe here. "But no, I did not see the thing you're trying to put words too. Though I think I may have an idea of a similar thing. There is not much that can be done by us mere mortals, our eyes are yet to open to the possibility as it were." they said with a shrug, making to head toward the Doll. They heard Nero follow behind them with a soft.

"What…?" he said nothing else, seeming to still be recovering from the first arrival in the dream. Katherine knelt in front of the Doll, offering their wrist and the Doll smiled warmly, channeling the bloody memories of the recent kills into the strength that Katherine needed to continue forward in the waking world, or the Nightmare, whichever it may be… Upon standing back up the Doll looked to Nero and bowed graciously, and much to Katherine's surprise, he returned the gesture.

"Hello, Good Hunter. I am a doll, here in this dream to look after you. It has been a long time since more than one spirit has come from the Waking World." she spoke softly and Nero gave her a strange look.

"Yeah… my name's Nero." he said, turning to look over at Katherine. The Hunter merely waved him up into the workshop. Nero glanced back at the Doll, who stood unmoving at her post, before following slowly. Katherine saw him look around, trying to take in the sights of this strange dream.

"What is this place?" he asked as they went into the building. Katherine ran a hand gently along the table top of the workbench, wondering what to work on next, what would help the most with the next obstacle…

"It is the Hunter's Dream." she answered, glancing up from the stained and dented wood. He moved a pile of books off a chair and sat down on it, glancing around the small room before he sighed and said.

"So that's not exactly an answer…" Katherine looked up at him as he spoke, the confusion plain in her gaze. He must've noticed because he continued "I mean, why is it just this small place, what's going on over the fence, what are the weird pillars in the distance?" he was starting to look frustrated.

"It's a place to recover, a pleasant dream to rest in when one cannot survive in the Waking World, it is connected to those marked as Hunters, it allows one to awaken from death as though it were little more than a simple Nightmare." Katherine explained with a small smile. They tried to avoid thinking too hard about it, it didn't seem to help with their own sanity.

"Wait, this is why you reappeared after I shot you?" he asked

"Yes. And if you are here, you are also connected to the Dream." she explained carefully, pulling out the stool and her blunderbuss to work on it. They wanted to remove the blood gem that had been installed but the last time she'd tried to remove one it had been… tedious.

"Are you saying that if I died I would just end up here?" he asked, she nodded without turning around.

"How do I get back to where I'm supposed to be?!" he continued. Katherine shrugged, beginning to manipulate the edges of the gem.

"Who's to say that you are not already where you are most needed?" she said, focused on her work. She had often wondered whether she was supposed to be here in the beginning. It was far easier to dismiss a previous life when one couldn't remember it and the snippets that drifted in were of pain and illness and misery.

"Don't give me that, I didn't ask for this shit." he snapped, his hand slamming down next to the gun. Katherine growled when the gem shifted back into place and glared up at the devil hunter.

"So do not judge those of us that did. Perhaps it was better than the alternative." she snapped back, standing. "I have few answers and more questions when it comes to getting out of this Nightmare and you think that it is going to be as simple as opening a door and killing a few beasts you are deeply mistaken." she could _feel_ her blood pounding in her veins, the inner beast _begging _to be allowed to surface, to maul and rip and tear and- She whirled, taking a few deep breaths, trying to get it under control again. She could hear Nero sigh and sit back down.

"Sorry, Dante's always gettin' on my case about being hot-headed. I just… I don't know what to do about all of this. Maybe you can share what you know? A new set of eyes might help put things in perspective." he said. The flair of their blood had calmed somewhat and Katherine turned around, a breathy laugh escaping her lips.

"What?" he asked, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Another set of eyes may be just what we need." she said, thinking of Willem in his chair outside the lake. She turned the desk stool to face him and sat herself.

"The most straightforward instruction I received stated to 'Seek Paleblood to transcend the Hunt'..."

A/N: Alright, got friends coming over to catch up on His Dark Materials so… gotta get off :)

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	7. You Know What I Mean

A/N: Moving right along today, not gonna dilly-dally, just gonna start in on this.

Disclaimer: I own a replica of Red Queen? That's the closest I got.

You Know What I Mean

Nero was still reeling from entering this strange, pocket dimension? He wasn't sure how else to think of it, Katherine called it a dream and entering into it had felt like waking up from a nightmare but… it seemed far stranger than that… He wondered if he was going to have to see that horrible monstrosity every time he entered this place… The thing's voice rang in his head with little care to what damage it did as it clattered around. Katherine had surprised him as well, he knew she was a fighter and she had those eery eyes but… the last thing he'd expected when he'd confronted her, frustrated about the whole situation, was for her to stand up and whirl around and bare a rather impressive set of fangs at him. A long couple of breaths later and they were gone, causing Nero to wonder if it was something every time she got upset or if it was something that she had control over. After the confrontation she seemed more open to sharing information, perhaps between the two of them they'd figure something out about this place.

"The most straightforward instruction I received stated to 'Seek Paleblood to transcend the Hunt'..." she said this seriously and Nero was suddenly wondering if he'd made a mistake in asking for information, nothing in this place made any goddamn sense.

"Okay, I think I'm missing a lot of pieces here, what the hell is paleblood?" he asked, rubbing his hand over his forehead. He was suddenly missing Lady and Trish and how whenever they handed off a job, most if not all of the investigation portion was already done and all he had to do was show up and kill demons.

"I do not know." Katherine said "I've seen nothing more on it since, it was something that I must've known of before that first transfusion though… I remember asking the doctor about it, however I don't remember why I asked. Perhaps I thought it would help cure my disease…" she sighed and began shucking off the large coat she was wearing, draping it over the back of the chair when she was done.

"Okay," Nero made a mental note to ask her later about the transfusion and whatever disease she had before "so we're looking for something that we don't know what it is. What about the hunt? Is that a specific thing?" he asked "It sounds like it's a specific thing."

"The Hunt is the night upon which Hunters clear beasts created by the scourge from the streets. Often times many, many Hunters will join in on the Hunt to assist, though I've seen a handful…"

"But… I thought that that lady down there said-"

"Not all those who are Hunters are connected to the Dream." she interjected "And most of those whom I've seen are not… well they are no longer in their right mind, they became beasts themselves. They needed to be put down."

"So this scourge turns people into monsters…" Nero said, mulling over the information that she'd already given him. "And you guys initiate this Hunt to get rid of them, makes sense, don't want dangerous monsters wandering the streets but… what's causing people to turn into monsters? What's the source of this scourge as you put it?"

"The Old Blood." she said, pulling the blood filled vial from her pocket once more. "Those who are not ascended enough become corrupted by the blood, become little more than beasts."

"Wait, so the crazy stuff you've been injecting yourself with is what's spreading the disease that turns people into monsters, why do you keep putting that in your body?" he paused, meeting those strange eyes. "Is that what was going on earlier? Are you infected too?" the red seemed almost brighter for a moment, though later Nero would swear it was a trick of the light as she smiled.

"Yes. Though the dream seems to help keep the Scourge from taking full hold inside of me, but none of us are immune to the beast-plague. As for why I continue… it helps me, keeps me healed and whole when often I would be unable to continue to fight. It allows me to keep obtaining more power. I think… you know what I mean when I say that power, once given a small taste, is something that one cannot help but chase." Katherine stared at him as she said this and Nero shifted uncomfortably as she saw right through him. He didn't feel as behind and useless as he once had but he wasn't sure he'd ever stop trying to get more power…

"I… yeah. So, where do we go, looking for this Paleblood thing?" he asked, more to change the topic than anything else.

"I was under the impression that it was associated with the church, but that did not yield as many answers as I would have liked, nor did Byrgenwerth when I continued my search there. I have recently stumbled into something caused by a curse upon the Hunters, a Nightmare. It appears to be dreamt of the past, perhaps the Church of days gone by holds the answers." she said.

"Okay, so let's go there." Nero said with a shrug, he wasn't going to be able to stand sitting around here with nothing to do for very long.

"The beasts there are far more aggressive than in the waking world." Katherine warned, Nero just smirked

"Good, sounds like my kind of party."

"I need to prepare a few items first." she said, holding up the old-school gun that he'd seen her wielding previously "Perhaps you should speak with the Doll, she may be of some use to you." Katherine settled into the desk as she had been before she had tried to explain some of the nonsense logic of this place. Nero sighed and looked out the door to the creepy lady.

"Yeah Nero, just go talk to the weird tall lady, I'm sure nothing will happen…" he grumbled under his breath as he headed out of the workshop to do just that.

He was anticipating seeing the strange woman standing where she'd been left; however she wasn't there. Nero wondered where she could've wandered off to as he walked down the path, staring into the strange fogs that swirled and wisped through the area surrounding this small patch of land. The path he was wandering down didn't seem to lead anywhere in particular so the devil hunter stopped and looked around, ah, there she was. The strange tall woman was kneeling next to a gravestone, she rose to her feet as Nero approached and he was reminded how ridiculously tall she was.

"Ahh, Good Hunter. What is it you desire?" she greeted him pleasantly. At least, Nero assumed that she meant it to come across as pleasant, her dead eyes in combination with the soft and gentle voice caused a shiver to run uncontrollably up his spine. He may have faced down devils and demons with a sharp word and smile but at least they had personality. This woman… just seemed like a shell, playing pretend at being human and not quite cutting it. The partial devil took a deep breath, glancing at the gravestone she'd been kneeling at just before; the words had worn away so badly that he could no longer read them, if they'd ever been in a language he could understand.

"So… uh, who's gravestone?" he asked, pointing. The woman did not glance at where he pointed, simply tilted her head, as though considering his question.

"I do not know; someone I care deeply about." she said softly. Nero couldn't tell if she was trying to stare at him like she could see straight into his soul or if that was an effect of the glassy eyes.

"How can you care about them if you don't know who they are?" he raised a brow, trying to think of a comparable analogy and coming up short.

"I care about all those who pass through this Dream and wish upon them a pleasant awakening." she said cryptically.

"You're not making any goddamn sense…" Nero sighed and turned to explore the rest of this strange pocket dimension, not caring if she thought him rude.

"Farewell Good Hunter, may you find your worth in the waking world." she said from behind him. He didn't care much for how quickly her voice faded into the eerie silence of this place. Looking up at the sky didn't help ease his nerves, the moon hung low, large and full and with a heavy presence. Nero scratched the back of his arm, quickly looking back to the ground; something tickled in the back of his mind, not quite the presence of a devil, nothing like anything he'd encountered before…

"This whole place gives me the creeps…" he grumbled, setting off down another path that wound away from the workshop. It eventually led to a dead end and a small pool located in the stump of a tree; the partial devil wasn't even surprised when some of the creepy little zombie things crawled out of the water, moaning and reaching in his direction. He sat down on the worn cobblestones, one of the zombies giving a noise that could almost qualify as a chuckle.

"Yeah me too." he said in its direction, it made no sign that it understood his words.

"Hmph, it has been a long time since we had more than one Hunter here in the dream." the raspy voice came from next to him and Nero nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around and saw an old man, hunched over in a wheelchair and if it weren't for the small smile on the man's lips the partial devil would have thought that he was asleep. Nero dismissed his wings once more, they had appeared when he'd immediately went to full alert, not having any indication the man was there.

"Who the hell are you old man?" he snapped, the demon hunter's frazzled nerves causing more of his temper show itself in a way that would normally have Kyrie reprimanding him.

"I am…" there was a pause so long that Nero was nearly sure that the man had forgotten that he was speaking "Gehrman, a friend to hunters." the old man, Gehrman said, the rasp in his voice spoke to either a life full of hard adventure or cigarettes, Nero wasn't sure which. The cough spoke to one but the steel in the old man's eyes spoke to the other. He sighed and looked back out at the swirling mists and pillars in the distance. A few minutes of silence passed before he asked

"What is this place?" there was a long pause and Nero was about to turn back to see if the old man had vanished as eerily as he'd appeared when the raspy voice said.

"It was once a safe haven." that was cause for Nero to turn back again, meeting the man's hard gaze.

"And what is it now?" there was a pregnant pause as they guaged each other, finally Gehrman broke the stare, looked off into the distance, and spoke; the answer was so soft that Nero wasn't sure he was meant to hear it.

"A prison."

A/N: That's it for this chapter, everyone's been commenting on my chapter length but… if I wanted them to be longer it would have to be more time between chapters, I don't have a ton of time to dedicate to Fanfiction and I like being able to do these in one sitting. So… unless everyone wants me to post more like once a month, the chapter length is unlikely to change, particularly right now in the holiday season when I'm spending a lot of time traveling to see family. Also obviously I started this note forever ago, there'll be another longer chapter coming up this week to make up for the period of absence, at least it should be this week, who knows, work may get hectic in the next two days...

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	8. Uncover Their Secrets

A/N: Okay, so don't tell anyone, I'm at work and probably should be… y'know doing work? But I'm leaving in ten minutes and what I'm doing now is slowly killing me inside… So I'm going to get started on this now and see what I can get done before Adam's ready to leave.

Disclaimer: I don't even own the computer I'm working on right now.

Uncover Their Secrets

Katherine sighed as the new gem settled properly into place on the weapon; they stretched and felt joints popping back into place loudly. Fitting and removing bloodgems to weapons always _seemed _like a good idea but the process was tedious and often infuriating. The blunderbuss was set down on the desk as she stood, deciding that stretching her legs would be beneficial before continuing into the nightmare. Nero had offered to help fight the beasts that plagued the cursed streets but she worried that he did not understand what he was offering to do. She wasn't even certain that the white haired man would resurrect as they did, though the acceptance of the Dream spoke to that being a definite possibility. As they thought of the other hunter Katherine wondered where he'd wandered off to. He had left after the suggestion to speak to the doll but the Hunter had not seen him since. Wandering out of the Workshop provided no immediate solutions either as the Doll stood in her normal place near the stairs; she did not react as Katherine wandered by, instead continuing to stare into the mists; wondering…

Nero seemed to be doing much the same when Katherine finally located him, though his stare into the mists appeared to be more thoughtful than the Doll's usually seemed; the Hunter was unsurprised to see that Nero had found Gehrman, the old man would turn up just long enough to give advice and then disappear to wherever long dreamers disappeared to. Both of them sat in relatively comfortable silence, looking out at the pillars in the mist. Katherine stopped behind them, not wanting to disturb the scene, though she needn't have worried as Gehrman gave a soft 'harumph', turning his wheelchair with some difficulty and steering off toward the workshop. Nero jolted slightly, as though returning from thoughts far away; he looked back over his shoulder at Katherine and then stood.

"So, you ready to go?" he asked, brushing small bits of dirt and leaves from his pants. He placed the massive sword he carried back in its holster on his back, it being too large for him to sit down with; it reminded Katherine of Ludwig's Holy Blade. She'd left the monstrous blade sitting in one of the chests in the Workshop, far too heavy to wield as it was now, she wondered briefly if Nero would benefit from a trick weapon.

"Yes. I believe I'm prepared." she nodded "I need to put on my coat first, then I will be as ready as I can be." Nero laughed lightly at that, following her back to the Workshop as she put her coat back on and strapped on belts, weapons, and tools. She looked back to Nero, who was just watching passively.

"Don't you need anything to prepare for the Nightmare ahead?" Katherine asked. The devil hunter just raised a brow.

"No? I've got all my stuff on me already." he gestured to the strange, arm-like contraptions connected to his belt.

"What are those?"

"Hm? Oh, Nico calls them Devil Breakers." He pulled one off of his belt, lifted his right hand and Katherine blinked in surprise when it _disappeared_ and he put the contraption in its place, wiggling metal fingers at her.

"That is… exceptionally strange." she said as he removed it, his arm reappearing as though nothing had happened.

"Says the person stabbing infected blood into their leg." he said, clipping the arm back onto his belt.

"It is blood intended for ministration." she said, trying to ignore the wriggling of doubt in the back of her mind in favor of the call of the beast, reminding her of the _joy_ that burned in her veins each time it was used. Katherine turned away from the partial devil as he said

"Whatever you say." though he still followed her out to the headstone just outside the door.

"Who did this belong to?" he asked from behind her. She paused, hand half extended to the stone, mind ready to _reach_ through the dreams and for the Nightmare in the cosmos. The messengers stopped, their hands lightly touching her knee.

"I do not know." she said with a shrug "I suspect it belonged to Gehrman's apprentice through, grab my hand, I cannot hold this temporarily forever."

"Hold what?" Nero asked as he grasped her hand. The messengers grasped at them, transporting them from one dream to another.

-Devil's Hunt-

The next time Katherine opened her eyes, they were standing in the nightmarish version of Oedon Chapel.

"The transportation between dreams." she said to Nero as he shivered. She wondered what he saw in the space between spaces, all she ever felt was the warm, secure presence of the Dream.

"Ah, so… how do you guess it was Gehrman's apprentice?" Nero asked, clearly trying to remove the previous thoughts from his mind.

"Their bone was buried there." she said, holding up the old and broken piece of collar bone. Nero hesitated for a moment before saying.

"Yeah, y'know, I don't want to know how you know it belonged to this apprentice." He glanced around the building they were now standing in. "What happened to all the people that were in here? And all the candles?"

"This is not the Waking World, it is the Nightmare." Katherine said "Be prepared, it is far more vicious than the Waking World ever could be." she started forward, stepping out of the main room into the hallway she had unlocked last time she was here. Simon still stood at the corner, pondering something. She wondered if time passed as strangely here as it did in the waking world. She tilted her head in the direction of Simon who glanced at her and then his keen eyes caught on Nero.

"I see you have another Seeker of Secrets." he whispered, Katherine wasn't sure that Simon was _capable_ of speaking above a whisper.

"A what?" Nero said, glancing between Katherine and the other hunter. She gave the smallest of shrugs, she hadn't been sure what to make of Simon either, all she knew was that he wasn't actively trying to kill her.

"The nightmares… their secrets call out to you do they not?" Simon said, Nero made a face, taking a step backward, toward the light from outside the chapel.

"Yeah, sure man…" the devil hunter said, quickly spinning on his heel. Katherine had to jog to keep up with the man's longer strides.

"That guy's creepy…" he said as they made it out of earshot. Katherine just shot him a bemused look. "I mean what does he mean?" the partial devil continued "'Seeker of Secrets'? I get that you said this place is a nightmare, not a dream… whatever that means… but we're supposed to what, uncover their secrets? Whose?" Katherine smiled

"I believe you are finally starting to ask proper questions." she said before touching his arm at the end of the hall "Be careful, there are many enemies out of this doorway." she peeked her head out, counting out at least five of them, not including those that she knew were likely sheltering underneath the bridge. She turned back to Nero

"There are at least five, more under the bridge." she said, the partial devil just grinned

"Now this is more my speed. You go up, I'll go down?" he didn't even give her enough time to respond, simply took off, vaulting over the bridge with abandon. Katherine let out a curse, yanked her mask up and over her nose and sprinted into action behind him, her blunderbuss taking one of the gunsman by surprise and jamming her hand into his guts. There was no time to enjoy the splash of blood across her hands however as she yanked the man in front of herself, using him as a shield from one of the other gunsman. One of the bullets clipped through and grazed her side, after that the world went a bit red around the edges… The world was a blurry combination of the pleasant smell of blood, the familiar feel of her Saw Cleaver in hand, snapping in and out like an extension of her arm and the explosive sound of her blunderbuss…

She whirled, raising her cleaver for the next enemy but Nero stood in her place, his hair stained pink and she lowered her weapon, taking a couple of breaths, trying to come down from the high. Nero flicked some of the blood from his sword, a useless endeavor when they were standing in a literal river of it.

"You didn't say that they'd explode."

A/N: So I actually didn't end up getting very much of this done at work but… I guess that's a good thing? Anyway, I'm going to prep the next chapter, again sorry for the absence over the holidays, making up for it now.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	9. Doesn't it Excite You

A/N: So… in and amongst fighting with 's website I opened one of my old fics… oof, man, the general concept is fine but… oof, I'm cringing a bit. Sometimes I forget that I started on this site back in high school...yeah maybe after this fic it's time to start going back and fixing stuff…

Disclaimer: I own some wine in a glass right now, but not the rights to DMC or Bloodborne (does anyone still do these anymore?)

Doesn't it Excite You?

Nero couldn't help the grin that had been plastered across his face while fighting these devils, or beasts, as Katherine seemed to call them. They were more of a fight than he initially anticipated, the large mosquito like creatures packing quite a punch behind their claws. This suited the partial devil just fine, got his blood moving as it were, his wings flared out and gave him the only boost he needed as he tore his way through the creatures. One of them flopped backward and exploded, belly full of blood coating him in the half digested stuff. He wished he could say it was the first time that he was covered in some awful goop, but it wasn't, in fact it was far from the worst he'd experienced. Didn't mean he appreciated it though…

The fight was over quicker than he would've liked and he saw Katherine cutting down the last enemy in the nearby vicinity. She whirled, eyes aglow and massive weapon raised as though to attack him, he tried to play it off, flicking some of the blood from Red queen and saying to her.

"You didn't tell me they would explode."

"Doesn't it excite you?" she asked, her breath coming in quickly, the wild look was still in her eyes. Nero paused, putting his weapons away for the moment.

"Does what?" he asked, he was fairly certain he knew what she meant but was hoping that in making her say it she would calm some.

"The _fight_, the _blood_, the…" she took another breath, calmer, more controlled, some of the glow fading in her eyes.

"Yes." Nero said, her eyes snapped to his and he could tell she was slowly coming down from her high. "But I'm more than the sum of my parts. I might be part demon but that doesn't mean I'm a slave to those desires." he continued. She turned away from him, pulling her hat off and wiping a sleeve across her brow, not seeming to notice or care that it was only smearing more blood and grime across her face. When she turned around she appeared to be in more of a right mind.

"My apologies." she said "I got… a bit carried away."

"No harm, no foul." Nero shrugged "C'mon, where to next?"

-Devil's Hunt-

The duo made their way across the twisted and warped city. Nero hadn't seen much of it, but even he could tell that this was some strange corruption of the city that they'd been in before. Yharnam, Katherine informed him as they worked their way through this strange nightmare. The monsters they faced now were far more twisted than the ones he'd seen in the city before as well, the partial devil being reminded more of the demons he fought at home rather than the odd madmen that they'd been putting down in the "waking world". They had just taken down a massive robed guy who in addition to being a hulking nine foot tall beast of a man, had no face. In its place was just a swirling pulsing pattern that both drew Nero in and repulsed him at the same time. They wandered up the stairs of the cathedral and the devil hunter stopped at the top, putting an arm out in front of Katherine. She ignored it, pushing through only to stop herself upon seeing the massive monster that sat utop the equally large chair behind the altar.

"What… what is it?" Nero whispered, afraid to disturb the flaming thing at the back of the room

"It's a cleric beast, though who it used to be is beyond me. It's got something in its hand." Katherine whispered back "I'm going to go get it." she started forward before Nero could stop her.

"Katherine?! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?" he hissed. Nero may have faced down bigger things than this but that didn't mean he wanted to go provoking something that was merely sleeping in this strange twisted version of reality. She started forward, her steps surprisingly quiet on the stone floor, Nero grumbled to himself but followed after her, his wings flaring up behind him, ready for a fight. Katherine kept her eyes on the beast, the flames within it burning low and hot, it made no move… Nero didn't realize that he'd been holding his breath until Katherine slowly made her way backward, something held in her hand. Still the beast did not move. Only after they made it to the stairs did Nero feel himself relax slightly, he glanced over at Katherine.

"Was it at least worth it?" he asked, she held up a strange looking medallion.

"Perhaps, this may have much value or very little, we will have to wait and see." she said

"Great, we risked the anger of a big flaming monster for some jewelry."

"A cleric beast." she corrected, Nero shrugged

"Whatever, right, you said that used to be a _person_?" he asked, she'd mentioned that the disease was turning people into monsters, but so far none of them had been _that _removed from human.

"Yes, though I believe the Nightmare complicates things a bit more than simple transformation." she said, they both tensed as a small patrol passed by the corner they were standing at. A couple of well placed shots ended the fight before it had the chance to begin and Nero continued the conversation as though it had never paused.

"How so?"

"This Nightmare, so far as I have been able to discover, is a curse upon the Hunters. Why or who placed it, I know not; however I do know that it has resulted in the disappearance of those who have become blood drunk." she explained, kneeling to rifle through the huntsmans' pockets, coming up with a few bullets, she held half of them out to Nero who accepted them with a small grimace.

"The silver in these is gumming up Blue Rose so bad…" he said before asking "Blood drunk? Like how you were earlier?"

"It is similar, yes." Katherine winced "Though those who are blood drunk are unable to stop from chasing the euphoria that the blood provides." Nero pulled himself up onto a ledge and reached down to help Katherine up, he asked once she was safely level

"You know, I feel like a broken record, but why do you keep taking that stuff?" she looked at him as he spoke, a swirl of emotions in those strange eyes.

"I am not certain I could at this point." she admitted. "It provides me with an edge that I often require as to not die, but you are also correct, if I continue down the path that I am on, I will be cursed to this Nightmare."

"Well you're not blood drunk yet." Nero said with a gentle pat to her shoulder "So we have time to figure this out yet. C'mon, as the creepy rag dude said, we've got secrets to uncover." the partial devil felt his heart warm when Katherine laughed. Her mind may have been a bit unstable, but her heart seemed to be in the right place and Nero wanted to see her succeed in this strange backwards place that they'd both found themselves in.

They continued through the nightmare cautiously and both of them narrowly managed to not be squished by a bizarre snail woman that fell from the sky. Nero poked it with a foot, the fall had clearly killed it but it looked nothing like any of the monsters that they'd seen so far. They both looked toward the sky but saw nothing but clouds. The pair looked at one another, Katherine shrugged and Nero shook his head.

"I take it weird stuff falling out of the sky is not the weirdest thing you've even seen?" he said, he couldn't see her mouth but he could tell she was smiling. "Point taken." he sighed, following after the Hunter as she continued forward. They soon found what looked like a flayed man, beating his bloody fist against the grate. Katherine raised her shotgun to him before Nero could react.

"Wait-" there was a loud bang and the man dropped to the ground. The partial devil gave the Hunter a look "You didn't need to do that."

"I was simply putting him out of his misery." she said, not waiting for his response and instead continuing up the stairs and into another chapel. Nero just shook his head in disgust and followed her up the steps. It seemed like this is where the river of blood was originating from and as they made their way inside they could see why, corpses piled upon corpses filled the room. Some of them seemed to still be alive, moaning and twitching, one of them reached for the pair of them

"Ahh… ahh… please… help us… an unsightly beast… a great terror looms! Ahh… Ludwig the Accursed is coming. Have mercy… Have mercy upon us…" As he spoke heavy footsteps splashed through the blood in the room and the beast came into view…

A/N: I can't help myself when it comes to cliffhangers, sorry ^^; Also hoooo, finally caught up on fanfiction, now onto some of the other stuff I'm behind on…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	10. Prepare Yourself for the Worst

A/N: Hot damn, I'm just beat today, I just really wanna sit and do nothing, perhaps plug through some missions in Secret World but I can make it, I'll get a bit of this done if nothing else and then go to bed early and it'll all be good, I've got a black cherry soda, I can make it

Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm not going to make a new one of these today, that's for sure.

Prepare Yourself for the Worst

Katherine couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine. The thing that stood before them was a beast, through and through. Legs twitched off at angles they shouldn't, slabs of flesh hung in ways that never could have been natural and another head… mouth… eyes… hung off its shoulder like a tumor. The Hunter had seen much, and more, but this was… something else. Their body dove into action before their mind had caught up, dodging to the side as the beast shot forward, splashing through the sweet blood that pooled on the floor as Ludwig the Accursed pulverized the dead and dying beneath his hooves. His claws caught their side and Katherine let out a sharp hiss between their teeth, hand hovering over the dripping wound before lashing back out, saw cleaver snapping in and out biting like a mouth of its own. Feeling its teeth sink into flesh filled them with renewed resolve and they slid through the blood behind the beast, noticing an orangish glow coming from Nero as they did. Ludwig spun, clearly in an attempt to snap his teeth around the Hunter's body but was interrupted halfway through with a swirl of flame. Katherine couldn't help the moment of pause she gave as Nero cranked something on his sword and it started to glow cherry red again before he lashed out and fire burned the beast's hide once more. The howl that tore through Ludwigs throat split the ears of his two assailants and he bowled over the partial devil when he flinched from the noise.

"Nero!" Katherine managed, their own ears still ringing. She shuffled in a pocket, hastily spreading the firepaper over the saw and sparking it alight as she dashed forward. Several nasty wounds were opened and burned into Ludwigs side before he'd truly finished mowing down the devil hunter. The good Hunter pulled back to give another swing as Ludwig gave a powerful kick with those back legs. Pain erupted from their chest as they splashed back down to the blood soaked stone floor, they fumbled with a pocket to pull out a blood vial, some part of her pain addled brain finding amusement in trying to find blood when they were _covered_ in the stuff. The floor shook with each step of the beast, sending ripples in the puddles and pools that splashed up and into the Hunter's eyes. She blinked furiously, trying to clear them but all she could make out was a blue glow… Her head snapped in the direction of his voice when Nero called out.

"C'mon, is that the best you got? My grandmother hits harder than you!" Ludwig whirled with a shriek and Katherine felt the footsteps receding, their heartbeat settling some as their fingers closed around the blood vial. The pinprick of pain as it was jammed into their leg was nothing compared to the pure euphoria that jolted through their veins as it took effect. Katherine rolled back to their feet and dove back into the frey. Ludwig was slowing his slashes and stomps taking longer to come around and seeming more and more desperate. He reared back when the Hunter lashed out the saw cleaver and Nero took the opportunity to deliver a forceful blow to the beast's jaw. Too many legs collapsed under their own weight and something clattered from the beast's back to ground. Ludwig looked to it and a spark of intelligence gleamed in his eye, the two hunters paused uncertain of what was about to happen… the beast opened his mouth instead of horrific screams and cries, let out words…

"Aah, you were at my side, all along. My true mentor… My guiding moonlight..." some of the humanity was back in his eyes as he stood, wrapping a hand around the hilt of the blade and bringing it up to his face and for a brief, small moment Katherine was able to see the man who had been behind the beast, the legendary hunter she'd read about in the Dream, the one who'd dove into battle without fear… Just look where that got him… Nero nudged their shoulder.

"That thing looks nasty, prepare yourself for the worst." his voice echoed strangely in the other form he took and Katherine couldn't help the slight flinch she gave at the contact. Ludwig swung the glowing blue sword heavily and both of them dove back into the action, dodging to opposite sides. The fight had just become that much more difficult, before he had been a beast, lashing out without thought, now the former Holy Blade did his best to keep the two of them from moving to opposite sides of him and lashed out with that glowing blade with fierce and deadly accuracy. Katherine did what she could, pouring the ash in with the bullets, granting them a bit more bang but it didn't appear to do much to slow down the relentless rain of blows. She reached for another blood vial, needing the boost but her hand closed on nothing and the sinking realization that she was out fell in her gut. The realization had just sunk in when she heard Nero shout and then blinding pain erupted from shoulder to hip and her vision went dark…

A/N: I know that this is a bit short, but today's… it's a bit rough, I just found out last night that my parents had to put the family cat down… It was a bit abrupt so I'm hurting right now, I just hope wherever she's gone she's got a warm lap to rest in…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	11. Why Do You Care So Much?

A/N: Not a bad evening… my desert could be better but I'm not sure what I was expecting, this banana bread is kinda stale…

Disclaimer: You know what I do own? This banana bread. You know what I'm kind of regretting? This banana bread

Why Do You Care So Much?

The fight was intense, Nero wasn't sure if it outranked some of the ones he'd had in the past but it was definitely up there. Ludwig initially lashed out sporadically and animalistically which after a couple of exchanges, he and Katherine seemed to have figured out and they were doing a pretty good job of keeping the monster's attention too split to focus either of them and managed to keep themselves out of the danger zone. That was, until Nero managed to get himself mowed over, that hadn't been pleasant but then Katherine had overreacted, he'd been _fine_ and next thing he knew she'd been hit. The partial devil had Triggered then, he was in pain and he didn't like the way that Ludwig was stomping toward her… He'd managed to knock the big oaf over but now… Now the maniac seemed to have a spark of intelligence back, swinging around a big glowing sword with an accuracy and familiarity that put Nero on edge. He saw Katherine back up a bit and reach into her pocket, she fumbled around for far longer than she usually did when reaching for those blood vials of hers. Ludwig was getting too close…

"Katherine!" he shouted, but it was too late, the blade had already swung out, opening the Hunter from hip to shoulder.

"_Fuck_." Nero swore as Katherine collapsed, dead, upon the ground. Ludwig gave a braying laugh as she fell and Nero felt his own blood boil. He launched himself back into the fight, using his wings and Devil Breakers to keep himself off the ground and above the monster as much as he could. He didn't even notice that Katherine's body had disappeared until their fighting took them over there again. Ludwig was being worn down, slowly, but Nero could feel himself losing strength too, it was getting harder and harder to keep up his Trigger, he kept slipping back to human whenever he thought he could spare a few breaths, trying to get some of his demonic energy back. There was no time to pick through his coat for the devil star he was certain was in there, that was exactly the sort of thing that got Katherine killed… He went in for another attack only to bring Red Queen up in a defence as Ludwig swung that monstrous sword at him. Nero was sent flying back, feet skidding as he tried to gain grip against the blood and gore that pooled on the stone. He sank to a knee, Trigger fading and he could hear the beast approaching him without even looking up.

"Shit…" he breathed, trying to force himself back to his feet. An echoing gunshot and a hand on his shoulder caused his head to snap up. Katherine stood beside him, whole once more and with _bloody murder _in her eyes. Ludwig roared and Katherine roared back, charging into the fight head on. The ferocity of her attacks took the heat off Nero long enough that he was able to shuffle through a few pockets and come up with the devil star that he'd thrown in there at some point and forgotten about until now. He crushed it between his fingers, the energy within flowing into him and renewing his strength. A grin split his face as he Triggered once more, leaping in to join Katherine in the fray. Ludwig took a sidestep, not seeming to notice that Nero was there, his mistake as the partial devil slammed a fist into the beast as hard as he could manage and sending the former man skidding off in the direction that he'd come. Katherine clearly saw the opportunity and took it, sliding under the monster's falling body and slashing out with her saw, separating one of the beast's too many legs from its body. She stood, flicking the blade open and disconnecting a string of gore from Ludwig as she did.

The pair met eyes once again, the exhilaration of battle oozing off of them both. Nero nodded and they both went back to the fight at hand. With Katherine fresh and Nero slightly revitalized the fight quickly turned in their favor, each of them landing blows back and forth against the beast. Katherine put a bullet in Ludwig as he was drawing back the sword for another heavy swing and he stumbled, she wasted no time in taking the chance to shove a hand into one of the many wounds that they'd opened on the monster, yanking out muscle and organ alike. Unlike previously, Ludwig did not immediately rise again, instead doubling over and Nero sprinted forward, swinging Red Queen two handed as hard as he could, cleaving the beast's head from his body.

Finally… Ludwig collapsed to the ground, blood pulsing slowly out of the neck stump, a gross mockery of a fountain. The head however… the mouth opened and closed and despite the lack of lungs to give breath to the words, Nero heard them loud and clear.

"Good hunters, have you seen the thread of light? Just a hair, a fleeting thing, yet I clung to it, steeped as I was in the stench of blood and beasts. I never wanted to know, what it really was. Really, I didn't…" whatever was keeping the head of the beast alive finally faded, the light going out of his eyes. Nero shivered before turning to Katherine.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, why do you care so much? I always awaken, you know this." she said cooly, red eyes still fixed on the beasts head.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." Nero shrugged. Katherine glanced up at him

"No, you are right but I am fine, thank you for asking after me." she gave him a small half bow and the partial devil suddenly found himself more uncomfortable.

"Err, yeah, no problem."

A/N: I don't really know where to end this chapter, so we're going to go with here ^^;


	12. You're Better Off Dead

A/N: Little late on typing this up but… meh, it's audit week, shit's crazy.

Disclaimer: I don't even own this computer

You're Better Off Dead

"What is this place?" Nero asked her as they panted after the fight. There'd been two hunters in the altar room and several prior to that, some caged behind bars, only to strike out when they opened the doors. He stood up, the wings behind him vanishing and the blood that had been decorating the claws splatted to the ground behind him. Katherine sighed, shaking off as much of the bloodlust as she could before answering him.

"I am uncertain." she said, looking around and then up at the altar ahead of them. "Perhaps they locked away those who became blood drunk in the past, the nightmare warps the truth of what was but the core always remains the same."

"Hmm…" Nero looked around a corner, checking that there were no more enemies before relaxing long enough to reload his gun and check his pockets. "How do you know all of this?" he asked, snapping the gun closed again; Katherine couldn't help but be impressed with its design, it seemed sleeker and more refined than the firearms she carried.

"There are many, many books within the Dream. Time is… strange and I have paused to read when the hunt becomes a bit… much." She explained. She found that reading helped her come down from the bloodlust and the speed with which she devoured the contents led her to believe that she must've read much in her past. Her past… she hadn't found herself thinking back on what it may have contained in a long time. She wandered up to the altar absently, pausing at the stone scene before her, a blood ministration, far more elaborate than the dirty room and crippled minister that had been her own fate. Nero looked it up and down

"Is this… the ministration?" he asked, running a hand absently over the stonework.

"Yes, though this is much more… ritualistic than what I recieved." she noticed the chains bolted into the corners of the altar and followed them up to the ceiling. "I think this goes up." she pointed and Nero followed her gaze.

"I think you're right," he glanced down and around the statue once more "but how do we get it to move?" Katherine didn't answer him right away, instead looking at the altar, eyes catching on the head of the body receiving the ministration. The skull was split open but the crack didn't appear to be caused by damage…

"Eyes on the inside…" she mumbled, remembering Master Willem's words at the lake and reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out the pendant. "I believe it was worth it." she said to Nero, reaching forward with the eye-like pendant and placing it within the hollow skull of the patient. It clicked into the groove within and there was a low, mechanical 'thud'. The entire platform began to rise slowly, the chains giving off loud 'clanks' as it did. Nero gave a soft laugh, shaking his head

"Alright I take back what I said before." he said as the ornate elevator came to a loud halt. Katherine noticed the lantern off to the side and knelt before it, lighting the small purple light within, messengers springing forth from the ground their hands grasping at their knee. Katherine smiled at them before rising and looking up the stairs. Nero stood behind her watching intently, the Hunter raised an eyebrow, curious as to his thoughts.

"Does the lantern only take you when you want it to?" he asked.

"Yes, does it not take you where you wish to go?" she said simply, head tilted to one side.

"More like it took me when I didn't want it to." he said, beginning to follow her up the stairs.

"That is strange, the messengers guide the transfer between realms, I do not think it is in their nature to deceive." she looked back at the lantern, now lit, gently lighting the room around it. Nero shrugged

"Maybe they were told to." they had reached the top of the stairs now and looked into a vast room that the spiralling staircase ascended, leading their eyes up, up, up into the rafters. "This place is huge." Nero said beside the Hunter. They nodded and made notice of a person kneeling next a large pool of liquid. Katherine stepped forward, trying not to make any noise on the chance that the person decided that they were a threat. The person… made no motion that they'd noticed them though and simply kept pawing through the liquid, mumbling to themselves. Katherine remained quiet, trying to listen.

"Has anyone… has anyone seen my eyes…?" the person said, their hands splashing through the water. Katherine paused and simply started to back away. Nero pointed at them curiously but Katherine simply shook her head.

"Have you seen their eyes?" she asked. Nero's puzzled expression was answer enough. They started into the first room that they could see, only to come upon more of these strange people, their heads swollen and misshapen. Nero glanced at one of them

"What're you looking for?" he asked them, the person only shrieked and began clawing at the partial devil. Nero backed up rapidly, pulling out his firearm. "Alright, maybe you're better off dead." he said, taking aim and launching a single, deadly bullet into the oversized head. The person collapsed, clear fluid leaking out of their head onto the floor, crashing into a rack of equipment on the way down. As they crashed through glass all the other people in the room turned in their direction, the ones tied to beds thrashing in their bonds to get free. Katherine swore, pulling out her saw cleaver as Nero did the same with his massive sword.

"Shit, oops." he said, preparing for the fight.

A/N: Oh my god this week was horrendous, it was an audit at work and I got stuck doing a process revalidation until 2 am… I get into work around 7… it was awful. I'm going to ask my boss if I earn any extra vacation for this shit… *grumble* I'm about to drink with some gal friends so there's that…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	13. Let Your Instincts Drive You

A/N: Y'know someday I'm gonna be caught back up on everything… On the plus side I played a bunch of Death Stranding yesterday. Another plus, I'm going to trapeze tonight! More upside down and climbing on things! Woo!

Disclaimer: What would happen if I owned one and not the other? *ooooohhhh* I don't though.

Let Your Instincts Drive You

They took pause at the top of a set of stairs. So far in their journey upward Nero found himself rather disgusted with what they had found. These people, patients actually, were receiving far from actual medical care and it seemed to be far more likely that they were being experimented on. Katherine didn't seem to be nearly as disturbed as he was but then, all she knew was this dirty cruel world… They had spoken with one of them, she went by the name Adeline and the memory of what she had been through, what she became… The devil hunter shook his head, the blood in his pocket suddenly seeming very heavy. He'd accepted it only because it'd somehow seemed rude to not and she'd specifically offered it to _him_, not to Katherine. She'd seemed more interested in the strange rune that the blood saint had scratched out anyway, just before she'd died. Katherine stepped up to the massive double doors before them, arms raised to push them open. Nero prepared for the worst, big giant doors like that were never a good sign… what he wasn't expecting though was a large flower garden. A massive sunflower esque blossom rising above their heads toward the sky, Nero wandered up to it, trying to discern what type of flower it was, the only things he'd ever seen grow this big were somewhat demonic in nature and that was the last thing he wanted to hear, was that this world had a problem with the demonic on top of everything else. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that at first he didn't hear Katherine start moving behind him, he did hear, however, the quickly hissed

"Nero!" that Katherine gave. He whirled to see a strange, misshapen humanoid rising from the ground, arms already lifting over its head to smash him downward.

"Shit!" he swore, leaping to the side in a roll, only to see the ground beneath his knees start to glow and another misshapen thing come out of the dirt.

"What the hell are these?" he snapped, flicking Red Queen off of his back and revving her to life.

"I don't know! Why would I?" Katherine snarled, her saw cleaver already biting into the bluish flesh of the large monsters. Nero smirked, it was a good thing if she was still speaking during combat. He'd quickly realized that that seemed to help her and continued making quips and jibes at the Hunter as they fought the monsters scattered through the nightmare. It was an easy habit for him to fall back into as it was something that he and Dante did regularly.

The fight between them and the monsters was going perfectly fine until they stopped paying attention to the small people attacking them and all lifted their arms to the sky. Nero looked up when it suddenly darkened above them and felt his heart sink into his toes. The strange space-like portal couldn't bode well for the two of them, he _reached_ with his wings and snagged Katherine out of the way of the incoming meteors, yanking the two of them behind the slightly sturdier pillar of the giant flower and shooting one of the monsters that dared come too close. Katherine squirmed for a moment before she seemed to gather her senses out of the bloodlust.

"Thank you." she breathed before her eyes flashed and she lashed out with her own firearm, the spray clipping the monster and she took the opportunity to remove its organs from its body. They tagged out the remaining monsters before they had the chance to try the summoning shit again, though both of them were slightly winded by the time the fight was truly over. Nero shivered as the sweat started to cool on his neck in the light breeze that played over the balcony. He heard Katherine take several deep breaths, probably trying to shake the bloodlust from her mind and she hooked her cleaver on her back, straightening and flicking some of the blood from her gloves. He looked at her and then at the door ahead of him.

"Onward and upward?" he asked. She paused to light a lantern that Nero was pretty sure hadn't been there in the fighting.

"Yes." She said as she rose from the lantern and faced the unopened door that lay before them. Nero pressed them open this time and they were both surprised by the large, rather empty, library that sat before them. The devil hunter's ears caught onto the sound of dripping liquid and the body seated in the chair ahead of them did not give him a good feeling on what that liquid might be.

"I think she's dead." Nero said, slowly starting forward, noticing the way that the blood soaked into the woman's cravat and vest, trailing under her clothes to drip off the end of her fingers onto the dusty floor.

"I believe this is the Lady that the patients spoke of." Katherine whispered, she seemed inclined not to break the quiet of the room.

"Lady Maria? No offense but this lady doesn't look nearly as nice as those patients made her out to be." Nero found himself speaking in hushed tones as well, something about this silence seemed… sacred.

"She was a student of Gehrman's before she presided over the research hall, it seems she grew tired of the Hunt."

"Can't blame her." Nero scoffed, glancing at the photo on the table next to the corpse, its glass was shattered heavily, as though the owner didn't care to look at the photo beneath. "She kinda reminds me of that doll lady." he said, Katherine nodded, reaching forward to brush hair from the woman's face as she spoke

"Yes, the Doll was built in the image of-" whatever she was about to say next was cut off as a hand snapped up and grabbed Katherine's wrist, pulling her into the Lady's face

"A corpse… should be left well alone…" she released Katherine's wrist, almost lovingly and the Hunter pulled back, clearly startled by the sudden movement. Nero simply tensed, waiting to see what this woman was going to do.

"Oh I know very well," Lady Maria smiled softly "how the secrets beckon so sweetly." she grabbed a weapon from the side of the chair as she rose, taking confident steps forward. "Only an honest death can cure you now," _clank_, the weapon split in two "Liberate you from your wild curiosity." All of her tension was coiled in the direction of Katherine so Nero was surprised when she seemed to _disappear _only to reappear striking directly at him. He backpedalled, immediately set on the defensive and taking a large wound to the thigh for his miscalculation. Swearing he summoned his wings to aid in his defence as her blade and dagger struck in too quickly for Red Queen to properly keep up. He started to pull on his demonic energy far earlier in the fight than he would have liked but was provided some reprieve when Katherine got involved. He could tell though that they were both going to struggle to keep up with the _speed_ at which this woman attacked. When she dodged, it was as though she was teleporting, a dusty trail leading from one point to another.

Nero quickly found himself Triggering, trying to keep up with the damage that he was taking, he watched Katherine slam another blood vial into her leg, eyes flashing slightly as she did. Lady Maria simply narrowed her eyes at him as he charged, wings raised to lash out. What he was not expecting was the shot to the head… he stumbled, falling to a knee, when did she get so close to him…? He felt a hand on his shoulder and heard her whisper

"Beast… let go… the dream awaits to cleanse your sickly spirit…" and then there was pain… burning, firey pain in his torso. He fell forward, coughing onto the floorboards… Why was it red…? He heard a roar in his ears, uncertain if it was his heart or Katherine. His vision was blurred as he tried to look up, Maria was farther away, her own blades stuck through her. There was no time to consider this however as his vision was taken up by a dark coat and there was another hand on his shoulder, this one more rough, demanding. He could tell that Katherine was shouting at him, but could not make out the words, she shook his shoulder once and Nero felt his head droop, what was all that pink and red beneath him…? A few words from Katherine made it through the fuzz in his ears

"I am sorry for this, but you must let your instincts drive you, we need the beast inside." there was a small prick at his arm and his vision went red…

A/N: So this one's a bit longer cause there was a point I wanted to get to and I was having fun so…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	14. The Sweet Blood

A/N: Okay so I'm pretty excited about this chapter, I love the Lady Maria fight. My first time I didn't do many parries and used the Blades of Mercy and we _danced_. It was exhilarating :3 So suffice to say, I'm excited to do this :3

Disclaimer: I'm going to do a Lady Maria cosplay. I don't own any of this shit, but just thought you guys should know that.

The Sweet Blood

Katherine shouldn't have been surprised when the _corpse_ got up and started fighting them, but she was and it made for a very poor beginning to the fight that they were currently engaged in. Lady Maria had begun by stalking toward her and Katherine was ready for the strike, what she hadn't anticipated however, was for the other Hunter to switch gears and gun for Nero, her dagger plunging into his thigh before he had the chance to react. He swore and backpedalled, Katherine flicked her cleaver out and charged after him, trying to keep her off of the devil hunter, who's larger blade was struggling to keep up with the swift dagger strikes. She was able to hold off Lady Maria for a few moments, the pair caught up in an intricate dance that one misstep would spell pain for either of them… Missteps that Katherine kept making, unable to keep up with the _speed_ of the older Hunter. Something in the back of Katherine's mind noted that the bone from the Hunter's Dream must have belonged to Lady Maria to be able to pull that quickening effect from it that the Lady did seemingly without thinking. She tried to keep her mind out of the bloodlust, Lady Maria was a Hunter first and foremost, if she lost herself to the bloodlust she would be no more than the beasts that the Lady had slaughtered, an easy kill. There was a blue flash as Nero pulled more on his demonic power, trying to keep up with the fight but she could tell that he too was struggling. She engaged again, took a couple too many slashes from the Hunter's weapon and backstepped, pulling out a vial, jamming it into her leg, trying to ignore the rush of the blood in their veins. Nero started to dart forward, wings raised above his head and fire in his eyes, neither of them anticipated Lady Maria smoothly pulling a pistol from her coat and landing a bullet home between Nero's eyes. She was in front of him in an instant, cruel glee etched into her face as she leaned into his ear, her hand buried in the devil hunter's gut. Katherine was already moving, even as Maria wrenched her hand back, innards falling out like so many pink worms across the floor…

Nero collapsed forward, Katherine knew deep down that he _should_ return at the lantern, whole and well but the Hunter couldn't think past the spatter of red that dripped from their compatriot. The cleaver bit heavily into Maria, not giving her the chance to fight back as it ripped and tore, when she finally took a step back, the first in the fight, the Hunter whirled back to Nero, grabbing his shoulder and _shaking _him, _shouting_ at him to get up, to keep fighting… The devil hunter didn't respond other than a raspy breath that may or may not have been an attempt at words. Katherine paused, the vial in her pocket suddenly seeming very heavy… She saw Lady Maria determinedly shove her blades into herself, that did not bode well… There was no time for any other choice, Katherine pulled out the vial of Arianna's blood, hoping that someone of the mysterious Cainhurst line would have sufficient power to their blood to aid them in this fight. Katherine gave the smallest of pauses to lean forward and speak into Nero's ear, uncertain whether her words reached him in that moment or not.

"I am sorry for this, but you must let your instincts drive you, we need the beast inside." and then she jammed the needle into his arm, Nero gave the smallest of flinches as the metal pierced his skin, and then the plunger sent the Yharnam blood into his veins…

Katherine heard the explosion behind her and the spatter of blood on the ground, the sound of footsteps as Maria approached but did not have the chance to turn and face their enemy as they were knocked off their feet by a blue lit force emanating from the partial devil. Katherine regained her senses just in time to see Nero stand, in his demonic form, though the intelligent light that she'd always seen in those amber eyes was gone, she'd gotten her wish, this was the beast that lurked under the partial devil's skin, he roared and Lady Maria smiled. It was the smile of a Hunter, one who had just been given _exactly_ what they wanted. Katherine felt her heart sink as Maria lowered into a stance, launching herself forward, blood backing up the power of her strike this time. However Nero was unfazed, slamming straight through it, ignoring the damage done to his own body and by the time Katherine had blinked all that remained was the blood that had spattered out of the wound. The devil hunter went to town on Lady Maria, forgoing the sword to instead slash and bite and rip and punch his way through the other Hunter. Katherine closed in on her as soon as she made the mistake of backing up to try to get away from the feral partial devil.

For the first time since the fight began, Katherine noticed worry begin to etch itself onto Maria's face. Her attacks began to get more desperate, fire swirling in to join the blood that she had infused her attacks with. The Hunter felt their skin skald more than once but they could tell that they were nearing the end, mostly thanks to Nero's relentless, brutal attacks. The partial devil kept coming, didn't stop tearing at Lady Maria. The older Hunter had just backed away from Katherine in an attempt to recooperate but Nero was on her again, wings _reaching_ and grabbing and claws tearing and there was a quick spurt of blood as the partial devil leaned forward and ripped her throat out. The Lady went down with no last words, merely a choked gurgle… Katherine felt relief, until Nero turned to face her, blood and gore dripping from the manic grin that split his face.

"The blood… the sweet blood…" he whispered, stalking forward toward her…

A/N: I'm having fun right now, this chapter was really fun to write.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	15. When This is All Over

A/N: Alright, finally doing this on a Sunday like I usually intend to do… Anywho I'm just going to get right into it, these past couple chapters have been _really_ fun :)

Disclaimer: I _do _own _this _computer. But not the rights to this stuff ;p

When This Is Over

The first thing that Nero realized was that all he could taste, all he could smell, all he could _feel_ was wet, slippery, sweet blood. It coated his claws, his face, filled his mouth… He could feel his breath coming in quick, rapid pants, feel something pulse in his claws… something with a distinctly different texture, still coated in silky blood, wrapped around the claws of the other hand. His wings braced against yet something else… he blinked, once, twice, a third time before any of his vision seemed to cooperate with him, some of the red haze fading to the back of mind. He froze.

The sight that fell before him had him wishing to return to the sweet red oblivion that he'd just emerged from. His eyes drifted down and he felt his throat catch as Katherine's heart gave one last weak pulse around his fingers before it stilled. Nero remained motionless like that for a moment before slowly pulling his arm from her chest, his other hand freeing itself from her long hair. Her body lay there, lifeless, for what felt like an eternity before the tiny messengers reached up from the ground to grasp and pull her body into the aether. Nero fell back onto his rear, staring at his hands as though they didn't belong to him, this was nothing like Triggering… what had _happened…?_ When he Triggered he may not have as much control of his demonic instincts but he was _aware…_ As he watched his demonic features slowly faded, leaving his human hands stained in red and gore from his friend caked under his fingernails. He knew he was on the verge of hyperventilating but didn't care, what had _happened?!_ The last thing he could remember was taking a bullet from Lady Maria… where was she? He looked rapidly around the room, seeing the platinum hair and dark clothes splayed off to the side, a large pool of crimson swiftly drying around her. He stumbled over to the corpse and the feeling of inhabiting a nightmare didn't fade, the taste, the _coating_ of copper in his mouth suddenly made awful sense as he saw the mangled mess that Maria's throat had become. A trembling hand reached to his mouth and touched the sticky mess… As a demon hunter and a partial devil himself, he was no stranger to the taste of blood, most of the time he'd even admit to the fact that he found it rather pleasant; all the same his stomach lurched and Nero braced himself against a bookshelf as he retched, feeling no better once his stomach was empty. Why couldn't he _remember_ what happened? He made a point of _not_ looking at the mess he'd made on the floor and instead wandered over to the stairs and sat down, taking deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth…

"I gather that the beast has returned to sleep?" Katherine's voice was smooth and calm as it always was, but in that moment it seemed louder than anything Nero could remember. He looked up at her, she'd pulled the mask away from her face and those red eyes were as cryptic as ever.

"What the _fuck_ happened Katherine?" he asked. She sighed and took a seat next to him.

"The fight… was going poorly-"

"Yeah I got that part, I thought we were going to turn it around until she shot me in the head then…" he tried and failed to look at the mess that he was, some back part of his mind told him that he looked ridiculous with the entire front of his shirt torn off.

"I thought you were going to die." she said simply, leveling her gaze at him. He met her eyes and snorted

"I've been shot in the head before Katherine, takes more than that to put me down. 'Sides, thought you said I was a capital 'H' Hunter like you, shouldn't I just come back at the lantern?" the thought of dying and returning was still unsettling but right now it seemed the better alternative to whatever had just happened.

"I… was uncertain if that would work…. She didn't just shoot you, she _eviscerated_ you, there was so much blood on the ground… I didn't stop to think… there… there wasn't enough time…" the way that the words uncharacteristically tumbled out, rapid and nearly overlapping one another had the partial devil nervous.

"What did you do Katherine…?" he asked slowly, rising to his feet when she didn't answer right away. He went down several steps so he could meet her downturned gaze. "What did you do?" he repeated.

"I did the only thing that I thought would work, I gave you an injection of Yharnam Blood. Someone of Cainhurst decent. I didn't know that you would react… so strongly to it." she shivered, looking away from him then a tension in her posture almost as though she expected him to be angry. Which… he was but… he was more mortified than anything.

"You… gave me the blood that… the stuff that you're addicted to?" he was having a hard time processing the whole thing.

"Yes. I am sorry for this, it is not at all what I had intended."

"You're sorry? I'm the one who…" he trailed off, not wanting to think about the feeling of her heart pulsing in his hand…

"You were blood drunk, not entirely in control of your actions, I do not blame you for what was initially my mistake." she said, reaching out and touching his hand, she didn't appear bothered by the fact that it was her own blood that coated it.

"No, no, when I Trigger I'm not _entirely_ in control, this… this was something else… I… I don't even remember what I _did_ Katherine. _Shit!_" he swore, pacing up and then down the stairs. "What am I going to do?" Katherine stopped him, grabbing his wrist.

"For now, we fight, continue The Hunt, find our answers. Then, when this is over, we will find a solution."

"I don't think I like that answer." Nero grumbled.

"Do you have a better one?" she asked with a small smile. He sighed

"No…"

"Try not to lose yourself to the bloodlust before then." Katherine said, matter of factly, as though she were giving him a fighting pointer, not reminding him that he might lose his goddamn mind mid-fight. "In the meantime, we should return to the Dream, you appear to need new clothes… and a bath."

"Yeah…" Nero followed her up to the new lantern in the library where they'd fought Lady Maria, at least there were no threats within the Dream…

A/N: Oh Nero you sweet summer child… it's only going to go downhill from here…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	16. Bottomless Sea

A/N: Okay, typing this, getting some sleepytime tea, relaxing, and going to bed… sounds like a good evening :) Also it's my birthday tomorrow! Yay! It's also a monday… boo… s'pose that's the definition of you win some, you lose some…

Disclaimer: I own me? Like myself? Yeah?

Bottomless Sea

Katherine was not at all surprised that Nero had overpowered her, she had been struggling to keep up with Maria and after watching the devil hunter rip her apart as though it were a rather violent walk in the park… She was not surprised in the slightest that he'd taken her down like it were child's play. She _had _been surprised that he had not been able to come down from the blood high, especially since it was his first dose of the Old Blood, giving it to him may not have been the best idea she'd ever had… However there'd been little time to consider in the midst of the action. She had also been startled at how much he wanted to _draw it out_, to _make it painful_… he'd clearly delighted in watching her suffer. She saw just before her vision faded that the bloodlust was fading from his eyes, there was some humanity back there again…

The Hunter did not enjoy trying to talk the partial devil down from the panic that he'd worked himself into when she'd returned, words were never her strong suit, even before she'd begun to steep herself in the ideas of the Healing Church and Mensis, though the latter was one that she'd heard only some mention of but they did have interesting ideas of the Great Ones. She shook her head but knelt down to light the lantern before her, he hadn't seemed satisfied with her answers but she didn't know all of them either, if she did, they wouldn't be in this mess to begin with…

-Devil's Hunt-

The pair of them had stayed in the dream for some time, Nero trying to come to grips with what she had forced upon him. She'd given him the space that she assumed that he wanted, however after several hours that she'd spent reading one of the many books that decorated the workshop out in the garden, far from the regular inhabitants of the Dream, Nero came to find her.

"I'm not mad at you y'know." he said, he wasn't looking at her, the slightest of pinkish color dusting his pale cheeks.

"I presumed that you were not keen to speak with the one who forced an undesirable fate upon you." she said to him, picking up the leaf she'd been using as a bookmark and folding it into the tome.

"I… I mean I'm not happy with it but I know how hard it can be to make snap decisions in a fight, Savior knows I've made a few shitty ones…" he grumbled "But I know that you did the best you could with what you knew and what you had… also… I'm sorry." he said, still not looking in her eyes. She raised a singular brow at him

"Why?" she asked softly. His gaze finally snapped to hers, his own expression baffled.

"What do you mean why? I tore you to pieces, I came to with… with…" he paused for a deep breath "with your heart in my hand." he finished. Katherine stood, brushing the dust and dirt from her coat.

"I know, I saw just before I passed. However you have already attempted to apologize and I have already told you that while being in the throes of blood drunkeness does not entirely excuse one from their actions, I do understand how difficult it can be to… not enjoy it. To revel in the bloodshed and pain and fear of your opponents, no matter whom they may be, is a difficult instinct to ignore. I have experienced what you have, been in your shoes so to speak, I do not blame you so long as you are able to come back to yourself. And of course, it is not the first time that you have taken my life." she smirked at him, enjoying the moment in which he paused, trying to remember when he had previously done so.

"Oh… right…" he grumbled, swiping at his nose. It was a decidedly cute action, Katherine thought before collecting up her things and starting back toward the workshop.

"Do you feel comfortable continuing into the Nightmare?" she asked him "I can make a trip alone if you do not feel as though you are ready to go back into the fight…" the devil hunter's expression hardened when she said this, clearly he did not like backing down from a challenge and Katherine wasn't sure if challenging him now when she knew first hand that the bloodlust would be a struggle but there was no calling back her words now that they'd left her mouth.

"Let's go. You picked up something that will let us continue past where… Maria was?" he stumbled over the Lady's name briefly and Katherine wondered if he was avoiding the brutality of the memory or trying not to enjoy it too much. She gathered her hunting gear back up, pulling the mask once more over her nose and mouth, some protection from the taste and smell of the blood was better than none after all and knelt by the headstone once more. Nero placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and they warped back to the large, battle ruined library.

They appeared inside it once more and Nero very pointedly didn't look at the body off to the side as Katherine worked the mechanism to get the clockface to open. They stepped out into a cloudy day, the ocean stretching to one side, a hamlet to the other. Nero looked out at it, glancing once back at the way they came.

"A bottomless sea…" he mumbled

"What?"

"Reminds me of a story I heard as a kid, that the sky was a bottomless sea that the dead sailed upon." he explained, Katherine looked out at the sea herself.

"Fitting."

A/N: I actually did read a story in a collection once where a grandmother was talking about leaving home to go sail the skies in a ship like the sea and dropped like a note in a bottle or something for the narrator, wish I could remember where I'd found it…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	17. Might Controls Everything

A/N: Wow… okay so the last chapter I posted some people got salty, if you're here looking to see everyone blow through all the problems like they're nothing, that's not this story, you may want to look elsewhere.

Disclaimer: I don't own these, they do not belong to me. I do this for fun, for me, and think others may want to enjoy them.

Might Controls Everything

Nero tried not to think too hard as they slowly wound their way through the small fishing village, the devil hunter thankful that their initial fights were small and over in a few well-placed hits or shots. He could, whenever Red Queen bit into his enemies or there was a bit too much spatter from Blue Rose, _feel _something in the back of his mind. He was used to enjoying battle and bloodshed, perhaps even a bit much but he'd gotten used to the slightly brutal wrath of his demonic side. This however… this was something _alien _that crawled through his veins, making itself known each time the fish-like villagers shouted at them and charged. The big… fish building, he had no idea what to call it, had been a bit rough but he'd been able to speed along their journey by using a combination of his wings and Devil Breaker to propel them to the top of the other side. They soon found themselves taking a moment of respite in a small hut and came across a familiar face when they did. Katherine knelt and lit the lantern as Nero jerked upon realizing that the heap of rags in the corner was not, in fact, just a pile of cloth. The devil hunter knelt next to the other Hunter, hands fluttering around him, unsure of how to help. A visible shudder ran through the man's frame before he seemed to recognize those kneeling near him. The devil hunter realized belatedly that Simon had bandages wrapped around his eyes and wondered for a moment how the man saw anything, if he could.

"Oh, you, I'm afraid I've made a botch of things…" he mumbled, coughing phlegm and blood up onto the ground.

"Simon, you okay?" Nero asked hesitantly, he knew that Katherine would have blood on her but after his own experience he was hesitant to give it to anyone else. The broken Hunter on the ground seized up, eyes darting around as he seemed to lack the strength to lift his head.

"I can hear the bell now… can you hear it? He's after me… the beast-hide assassin, again and again… it _never_ ends…" his words were starting to blur together, no longer the crisp and calm voice they'd heard at the start of the Nightmare. Nero put a hand on the man's shoulder and he jerked again, seeming to have forgotten there were others there. His eyes met the partial devil's

"Please, I need you to do something…" he paused to cough again, a wet sickly sound that seemed to catch in his throat. "This village is the true secret. Testament… to the old sins, it feeds this Hunter's Nightmare. Please, I ask you, bring an end to the horror…" his expression glazed for a moment "So our forefathers sinned? We Hunters cannot bear their weight forever… it isn't fair…" his covered eyes locked with Nero's then "It isn't fair…" his breath was getting more labored and Katherine knelt next to him, pulling out a blood vial and holding it out in offering, he shook his head minutely.

"No…" Simon rasped "I'm too far gone for that, I'd rather die with my sanity about me… just leave me in peace now please…" They both stood by the other Hunter for a moment, until his breathing stopped and he stilled completely. Nero took a deep breath of his own and turned to face Katherine

"He's not coming back is he?" he asked. Katherine shook her head solemnly

"No, not all hunters are connected to the Dream." she said softly, rising back to her feet and looking around the hut and coming back with an old and musty blanket and covering the body gently. Nero glanced around, noticing a split skull on the table, tools still stuck in it, he made a brief face and turned back to the Hunter who was watching him, eyes unreadable.

"What did he mean?" Nero asked "Our forefathers sinned?" Katherine went up to the table with the skull on it, poking at the bone with one of the tools still on the table before answering him.

"The first hunters… their methods were… perhaps not the most modest. I believe I know what this place is. I've read of a hamlet that the first hunters found to have had strange insight. They believed that it was influenced by a Great One. Kos. They took the village by force, took what they required or desired and left the rest to rot." she said, setting the tools back on the table. Nero glanced around, noticing the rest of the body on a cot nestled in the corner.

"If they had this strange power backing them, why didn't they fight back? Run? Something?" as soon as he spoke he knew the answer, all the villagers _had_ been fighting them the whole way through.

"Because might controls everything Nero, but that doesn't mean that they haven't fought back in their own way. They beseeched their higher power, that is what this is, this curse," she waved an arm around the area in which they stood "torments Hunters for all eternity, forces them to relive, to endure and face the horrors that their forebears committed."

"And we can end this curse?" Nero asked

"That is what Simon believed."

"What do you believe?"

"I believe that this Nightmare's secrets will prove insightful."

A/N: Alrighty, I really hope I'm not screwing up the geography too much, I wasn't able to find a good reference map so a lot of this is off of memory and the crappy reference photos I can pull. Anywho

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	18. Are You Going to Kill Me?

A/N: I really, really hope that everyone's doing okay, taking care of themselves and all that. As for me, I'm still working, not at the moment, but in general. They're still having production working and Adam and I are considered direct production support :/ I think it's a bit sketch that they have production working at all seeing as they touch stuff that goes to hospitals but I'm not in charge so…

Disclaimers: oops, that didn't need to be plural, well I double disclaim these things

Are You Going to Kill Me?

Nero seemed rather uncomfortable with the idea that they may be cursed to remain here when they finally fell to the blood-drunkeness with all the rest of the Hunters. Katherine didn't feel quite as bothered by it all, she knew that after all the horrors she'd committed on the citizens of Yharnam alone that she deserved whatever fate was awaiting her at the end of the Dream. They continued to explore, making their way through the hostile village, finding the twisted bodies of villagers and the strung up corpses of Hunters alike. One villager didn't seem to have it in for them, only muttering at them in mad circles before they turned back to the hamlet for another round.

"Do you hear that?" Nero asked, stopping and putting an arm out. Katherine looked at him, tilting her head, trying to listen for whatever had captured the devil hunters attention. She shook her head.

"No."

"It sounds like a be- look out!" Katherine found herself being pushed backward, arms pinwheeling comically as she tried to keep her balance on the high bridge they stood on before tumbling backward, barely catching herself on the wood slicked by time and saltwater. A beast-no a man, came charging at Nero who met him head on. The mad hunter swung a blood covered weapon at the partial devil who seemed to be keeping pace easily. Everything was going fine and Katherine managed to clamber back onto the bridge, swinging out her own saw cleaver when the madman slammed the bloody weapon into the ground. Katherine felt a piercing pain in her head and swore before the bolt manifested directly into her abdomen. She immediately slammed a blood vial into her leg, the pain fading into a dull ache and her blood swirling excitedly even with the bolt still obstructing their torso. They looked up to see the hunter who remained a devil with one sticking directly out of his chest. The madman grinned beneath his bloody cowl and started forward even as the devil coughed, blood spewing out of its mouth, foot falling back a step.

"Always hurts like a bitch but I can see why Dante just started shaking in off…" the devil gave a small laugh. The Hunter shook their head, trying to sort their thoughts out of the bloodlust even as Nero smiled at the madman before him.

"You should see your face right now." he said before striking him down with a powerful blow from Red Queen. Katherine felt like herself again but wasn't sure if Nero was in the same mind. She stood stock still as Nero met her eyes, more blood getting coughed out of his mouth and onto his already soaked and ripped shirt.

"Can you… help me get this out?" he pointed at the bloody spear in his chest. Katherine nodded silently, gripping the spear tightly in one hand and swiftly yanking it out of the partial devil. He grunted and his eyes flashed yellow but otherwise didn't react. Once she was done, Katherine set about removing the one from her own torso, thankfully the blood was still running thick in her veins, sealing the wound over in a matter of moments. She looked back at Nero who was sitting and breathing heavily, watching the wound on his chest slowly close.

"I was uncertain if you would keep your mind after that, those… are not pleasant." she said. Nero laughed at that.

"Yeah, that's an understatement. Unfortunately, that's far from the first time I've been run through. You… weirdly get used to it?" he said, glancing at the tattered remains of his shirt. Katherine gave him an odd glance before hearing the tinkling of a bell.

"What is that?" she asked, trying to pin down a location and only succeeded in turning in a circle.

"That's what I heard before that dude showed up. Get ready." he said, lifting Red Queen as though he hadn't just recovered from what would've been a mortal wound for someone else.

They fought the man off three more times before he seemed to either give up or was unable to encroach upon their reality any further. They eventually fought their way to the middle of the hamlet and Nero glanced down into the well.

"There's a ladder." he said, stepping over the edge and slowly starting down.

"I don't know if that is the wisest-"

"It's fine Katherine, what, are you afraid of a few more fishmen?" he laughed as he started further down. She sighed and started down after him, the smell of salt and fish and rot wafting heavily from the open air beneath them. She heard Nero curse beneath her and she glanced down to see one of the whale-men swinging a huge fishing hook at the partial devil. Katherine just sighed again and let go of the ladder, falling cleaver first onto the monster. It yelled and threw her off, but she was ready for it, hitting the ground rolling back onto her feet. It wasn't dead but it was hurt, and angry. Nero was ready though, grabbling back onto its back with that strange mechanical arm of his and continuing work where Katherine left off. What neither of them expected however was for another of them to fall from the ceiling with an angry roar.

"For fucks sake!" Nero shouted, darting off to fight the second one, leaving the remainder of the wounded, furious one to Katherine. She grumbled under her breath, dodging swiftly to the side and then forward to give it a few swipes as it tried to turn her into paste with its massive fish-hook. She'd just finished it off when she heard Nero give a frustrated shout that ended abruptly. Concerned the Hunter turned to see the monster glow from _within_ and then its insides were on the outside, Nero tumbling out with them. She breathed a sigh of relief until she noted his expression, coated in blood and mad, despite remaining in his human form. Katherine slowly shifted her grip on her cleaver, not ready for this again.

"What, are you going to kill me? Just like you _tried _last time? When I took you apart?" He was suddenly _there_ next to her, whispering in her ear "Piece by piece?"

A/N: Everyone take care okay?

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	19. That is None of My Concern

A/N: So I'm playing D&D right now and probably shouldn't be typing since I'm literally trying to sneak into a safe to plant condemning evidence against a rival gang... meh

Disclaimer: I own none of this, but I do own my D&D character =p

That's None of my Concern

Nero hated how this made him _feel_. He was aware this time, though the partial devil wasn't sure if he preferred this or if waking up and not remembering what he had done was any better. Some deep part of his consciousness knew that this was wrong, that he had lost control. The Hunter relaxed in front of him, even though the raised hairs on the back of her neck said otherwise. Part of the _urge_ to _chase_ eased slightly, although he desperately wanted her to run because that meant he could hunt after her. The prey took in a breath, so loud in the quiet of the cavern they stood in, and let it out.

"Aren't you going to fight back…?" he whispered, claws manifesting with barely a thought to tug down the fabric that covered her face, exposing her throat and the smell of her sweat and the slightest tang of… fear. He grinned, his own heart trying to thrum out of his chest with excitement and adrenaline

"No." she said, quietly but firmly. "Kill me if you wish, I only urge you to be swift about it." A long low growl rolled out of the partial devil's throat, something that, had he been in his right mind, Nero would've been _mortified_ with. As it stood now, he _delighted _in the shiver that ran down her spine, she was strong and that made playing with her that much more pleasurable. The idea that he may be able to _break_ her…

"But that would strip me of all the fun…" he murmured, running a singular claw down the pale column of her neck. Warm and red the blood followed his finger, he could still smell the nectar of the gods in her veins from her last injection, even as the wound closed up in a matter of seconds.

"Your 'fun'," she emphasized the word "that's none of my concern." she stared obstinately ahead of them, red eyes currently dulled. He wondered if he might drive them alight, awaken the beast inside her as well.

"Shouldn't it be?" he prowled around her front, claws flexing and opening over his shoulders in eager anticipation.

"Hmm." was her only response, still refusing to move, to react, she may have no control over the scent of fear she put out but the lack of physical response was starting to grate on the partial devil's nerves. He was tempted to snap at her just to see if teeth in her jugular would elicit a response. He prowled around behind her again, she didn't even follow him with her eyes, just stared straight ahead as though there was some rescue awaiting there. Wait. His eyes snapped up to match Katherine's line of sight and before he could focus on it, there was fire at his feet and in his face. He snarled, taking a forward roll through the dirty water on the floor before coming up on his feet and giving chase. The wounds forgotten, they'd heal shortly anyway, the _chase_ had begun…

Katherine vaulted up on top of a small ledge and took off, and Nero was right behind her. Some strange singing tickled at the back of his mind but he ignored it, solely focused on his prey. There was a brief glow to his right and his prey flinched, something lodged into its thigh. The rich smell of blood in the air- something wrapped thin but strong arms around him and hauled him backward, tiny mouths snapping eagerly into the flesh of his back and shoulders. The partial devil snapped back, biting one of the arms wrapped around him before reaching with both arms and wings to yank his opponent over his shoulder and onto the ground. Red Queen lit up as she slammed into the monster, turning what may have been a head into mush. The spray of blood and the monster's viscera onto his face and hands just fueled the flames of his bloodlust. But there was one prey that he wanted more… His head snapped up, a grin splitting his face as he saw that his prey had only gained a small lead, limping as she went, blood joyously onto the ground as she did. The growl was long and low as he started forward, pausing briefly to yank the opposition out of the shadows where it hummed and dash its swollen head into the ground.

The spear splashed as it fell into the water, his prey having yanked it from its leg in a desperate attempt to go faster. His tongue snaked out to catch some of the blood on his face, just a tease of what was to come… The prey fought back, of course it did, but it was no match for him, never would be. The scream that it gave when he grabbed it and crushed a leg beneath his boot was… delightful, a shiver running down his spine at the tension and… _snap_ of bone. Despite the break his prey squirmed around in his hands, eyes aglow and snarling at him. He simply smiled at it, raking claws down its chest and into its guts as it tried to claw him back. It squirmed and something _snapped_ inside, the light slowly fading from its eyes. Nero frowned, the prey hadn't been as much fun as he'd thought… There had to be others here… he stood, the corpse at his feet fading into light as he continued on, bloodlust burning hot in his veins…

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter… the peculiar madness of blood-drunkeness is really hard to put to words… I'm sure I'll fall into it better the more I write it so

Until next time,

-Winged Element


	20. It Sings to Me

A/N: How's everyone doing? No one fallen into madness yet? I feel as though not much has changed for me, yay med device company, essential services and all that. But my weekends are a lot more free right now, which is lovely, it means I may finish Death Stranding and Dark Souls 3 yet!

Disclaimer: I do own the desk I've been working from home on? Don't think that counts for much though.

It Sings to Me

Katherine knew she was in over her head as soon as she saw Nero's face. There was nothing human there, despite the form that he currently held. He wanted to _play_ with her, she understood the drive, but that didn't mean that she wanted to _let _him. Instead she tried to focus his attention on her, where she wanted it, not on her fingers that were digging desperately through her pockets, looking for… her fingers closed on it just in time for Nero to turn, trying to ascertain what it was that she'd been staring at. It was enough, she slammed the molotov directly behind herself, it wouldn't distract him for long but long enough that it gave her a head start. She vaulted up where she could hear the vague singing of some other enemy and dashed forward, hoping that the other enemy would distract Nero, even briefly. She just needed enough time to pull the Hunter's Marks from her pocket and concentrate on the impression… There was no time, there was a glow from the enemies that she was trying to dash past and suddenly her attention caught on them… on their… _truth_. She could feel her own blood trying to betray her, forming into a spear that pierced through her thigh. The cry escaped her throat before she could think to keep it closed; all the same she continued to limp forward, she just had to get a little further ahead… and then there was a hand around her ankle and a horrendous _crack_ as something snapped. She screamed and tried to claw away, tried to do… anything… There was no escaping the pain, the torment…

-Devil's Hunt-

Katherine awoke near the lantern and knelt down next to it, leaning forward until her brow rested upon the cool metal of the lamp. She took a deep breath, and just waited, trying to relax back into her own skin. Sometimes coming back from death was easy, sometimes, she just needed to breathe. It had been easier, was still easier, when she fell back into the mindset that she'd found herself in when Nero had first come across her, starting to see the truths above humanity, to be able to _see_. However, she wasn't sure anymore if that was something that she wanted to find the rest of the truth. The realization that she'd forgotten her own _name_, something that she'd taken through the blood ministration when so little else had remained, had hit hard. Even after the Hunter had regained her breath and felt properly _alive_ again, she remained at the lantern, giving Nero time. Sometimes one simply had to ride the waves out, to let all the pain and suffering out into the world… After some time, she finally stood, brushing some of the mud from her coat and walking into the hamlet.

It took some time to find Nero but no time to find his trail, the bodies were littered, torn and ravaged, throughout the hamlet, he'd seemed to have worked a bloody path through the whole place. There was little left to identify these people with. They weren't quite _people_ anymore but all the same, the remains that the partial devil left behind were hard to recognize as humanoid at all. She found him eventually, it would've been hard not to, he stood, breathing heavily, blood dripping off of him, the strange machine that he'd replaced his right arm with sparking; Katherine was uncertain if this meant it was broken or if it was intended to do this. Nero shook his head like a dog, spatters flying off his pinkish, bloodstained hair. His shoulders were tense but when he spun to look at her, there was a spark of humanity in the blue eyes and the Hunter couldn't help the wave of _relief_ that washed over her. She knew that she couldn't beat him in a one on one fight, not without resorting to dirty play, but she wasn't sure how many more times she could stand him _killing_ her and keep her own mind about.

"It sings to me Katherine…" he whispered, glancing down at his hand, his right one didn't bend, clarifying to the Hunter that it was broken, not intentionally sparking. She raised a hand, sympathetically placing it on his shoulder and though the mask covered the lower part of her face, she hoped that he could tell that she was smiling at him.

"I know." she said "Come, there's still more fight ahead of us. We may as well return to the Dream, allow you to rest, recover, feel _human_ again." he surprised her by shaking his head.

"No, let's see this through to the end, I'm… okay. For now." he said, pulling the mechanical arm from the stump, human fingers and flesh materializing where there had been nothing before. Katherine found it extremely strange and more than a little unsettling but said nothing.

"Are you… alright?" he asked her before she could begin to walk forward.

"I'll be okay." she said, she could tell that he caught the meaning of her words and stayed back a bit from her, instead watching their backs, not that there was much left living in the village, but he needed something to focus on, she understood that. They walked in silence for a time before he said.

"I was aware this time."

"I know." she said

"It… it felt _good_. Why does it have to feel _good_?" he asked, a small shake in his voice.

"I don't know."

A/N: A lot of internal monologue in this chapter, but that's what I was feelin, we'll be to a boss fight next chapter and then I may rapid fire through a few since Katherine's only just past Rom in the main game, but we'll see how I feel after the Orphan.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	21. How Can it Be?

A/N: Hello everyone, hope everyone is doing okay in amongst all of this. Things on my end haven't changed much, D&D's more online but working for a med device company means that I'm still working, it's just at home sometimes. I've also discovered that my cat is the type of cat who will sit on laptop keyboards :/ Which is cute but… also Repo, I need to work on that…

Disclaimer: I own the cat mentioned above, not either of these properties.

How Can it Be?

Nero was quiet as they continued their journey through this nightmare, he'd been _aware_ of his actions this time, which somehow, just made the whole thing worse… He certainly hadn't liked coming to and having to find the horrors he'd committed. But… being in the moment, _enjoying_ it the way he had… somehow that was so much worse. At least Katherine seemed to understand, she certainly didn't like when he'd killed her but she hadn't blamed him for it. If anything, she seemed to blame herself. Nero rubbed a thumb over the small trinket that Julio had made for him last time he'd been home with Kyrie. It was little more than some mismatching beads strung together but he'd smiled and accepted it when the boy had excitedly offered it. Now he was happy that he'd done so, it was a reminder of home in this backwards nightmare that he'd found himself in. He wondered briefly if this was what Dante had felt like during one of his forays into hell but the mental train of thought was cut off as the elevator that he and Katherine had been riding stopped at the bottom of a large cave. Dozens of the fishy snail-like villagers lay prostrate in a pathway ahead of them.

"What… are they doing?" Nero whispered, not wanting to attract the attention of so many at once.

"I think they're praying…" Katherine whispered back, just as softly. She fumbled in her pockets for a moment before lifting out a pebble and tossing it near them. None of them so much as flinched. The duo started forward cautiously but none of the creatures moved beyond breathing, it was eerily silent, Nero perked up when he heard the gentle sound of lapping water ahead of them, had they come to the beach? The answer seemed to be yes but… something lay just off the shore, at first glance Nero assumed it was a whale that had beached itself, but he should've known that a beached whale was far too innocent a thing for this nightmare. It was… something that neither of the pair had ever seen before, though Katherine let out a whispered

"Kos…" as they splashed their way forward in the shallow water. Nero glanced at her but then caught sight of something _moving_ beneath the thing's skin. He suppressed a shiver but continued to watch in curious horror as _something_ started to drag its way out from within the thing on the shore. Wet slurping sounds reached them as they paused to watch the process as another creature ripped and squelched its way from the remains. A meaty _pop_ sounded and the creature began to stand, appearing to be humanoid in nature, though overly tall and far too gangly to stand on its own in Nero's opinion.

"How can it be…?" Katherine whispered next to him and he glanced at her as the creature just stood there, staring at the bizarre sun that had watched over their horrific journey through the hamlet.

"What?" Nero whispered back, Katherine's eyes flicked to him and then back to the creature.

"The child of Kos… it shouldn't be alive… and yet… here it stands." they both flinched when the sound of sobbing reached their ears and it took Nero a moment to realize that it was coming _from_ the creature.

"Shit…" the devil hunter muttered "this is all sorts of messed up." but he pulled Red Queen from his back all the same. The creature made no notice of them until they were practically upon the body of the thing Katherine had called Kos, close enough that Nero had to wrestle down his gag reflex. Whatever this thing was, it had been dead a long while and was rotting just like any other sea creature. The child turned to view them, dead milky eyes staring out from an old man's face, and screamed, leaping in the air and screaming as it did. Nero darted to the side, the… thing that the child threw splashing into the shallow water with a slam, Katherine rolled underneath its leap, narrowly dodging the thrown object. It started thrashing before either of them had time to analyze it further, shrieking and screaming as it did with the massive bladed… thing. Why had there been a blade inside another creature?! Nero thought briefly to himself as it charged again, this time whipping this thing around itself in circles. The devil hunter leapt into the air, concentrating his energy beneath his feet to leap again, and using a push from Gerbera to launch himself over the creature to follow up with an attack. Katherine wasn't so lucky… The blade slammed into her, seeming to be more of a blunt force than an actual cut but Nero's relief was short lived as it swung again. It was easy for the partial devil to duck under the cord as it swung but the path brought it into direct contact with the Hunter, who cried out painfully. Nero growled a curse under his breath and swung Red Queen at the creature, revving her as he did. It screamed at him, leaping backward and tossing its… wait was that still attached to it? The devil hunter didn't have more time to consider as he hastily brought his sword up, the monster's blade glancing off, pushing both of them off balance. A quick glance to the side informed Nero that Katherine was getting to her feet, thank goodness, this fight was not off to a great start.

A/N: Man this boss fight… I struggled with it for sooooo long, about two months of on again off again fighting it and far, far too many attempts. Though I think I fared better than my boyfriend who rage quit the game for a year because of it haha.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	22. We All Become Beasts

A/N: I feel really guilty, my cousin wants to video chat tonight and… neither Adam nor I really want to so we said we have plans (we don't) but uh… yeah, I'm gonna type this chapter and then go feel guilty some more!

Disclaimer: I own my guilt and shame that even during quarantine, I'm still dodging social engagements…

We All Become Beasts

Katherine shuffled to her feet as best she could, her abdomen still bleeding heavily, even after she jabbed a vial into her leg. She had to get back into the fight… Nero was holding his own, for now, but who knows how long that would hold up for? This… creature, this Orphan, was a monster on a level of its own and the Hunter wasn't sure that the two of them were a match for it. It screeched again, taking off after the partial devil and Katherine fired off a single shot from her Blunderbuss, the shrapnel hitting the Orphan below the waist and causing it to falter for a single step in its stride, enough to allow Nero to get a could good strikes in before it could recover. The Hunter was horrified to notice that its wounds healed up before their eyes, leaving barely a scratch in its place. Katherine swore and leapt forward, flanking the creature, running her blood soaked hands over her face. This time she was _trying _to get her bloodlust going, she just hoped it was going to work… the smell and the taste, while her own blood was not as appealing as the blood of others, she could still feel her pulse quicken and the smell sharpen, she let out a roar, something not at all human, but the energy of it pushed the Orphan off balance and then Nero was there, taking advantage of the opening that the cry had allowed. He struck with Red Queen and his wings alike, trying to do as much damage as quickly as he could before the Orphan got back to its feet and leapt backward; probably trying to get some space. It threw something at them, pink and fleshy and Katherine ducked out of the way of the projectile, only noticing too late that the water around where it'd landed was glowing.

Fiery pain seared her side as the water exploded upward, she cried out and rolled, the saltwater providing little relief. It wasn't as bad as the previous hit but she could feel the burns on her side sluggishly closing up as the Old Blood did the best it could with how little was racing through her veins. She had only a moment to react as the Orphan was leaping at her with a horrible shriek, she rolled underneath it, winding up with her saw cleaver and slamming it down as hard as she could manage, the Orphan letting out a wounded sound and falling to a knee. Despite the fervor of the fight, Katherine let a grin spread across their face, reaching forward without thinking and tearing with too sharp fingers flesh from the Orphan's side. A glance over her shoulder told her that Nero was shaking off a hit of his own, the skin of his shoulder sealing up swiftly, even as the jacket now drooped across the blood-stained flesh. The Hunter couldn't help but be envious of the partial devil's ability to heal as he took several steps forward, that strange mechanical arm extending forward and pulling him with it to allow him to continue to rain blows upon the Orphan. The creature had apparently recovered enough from the flesh and muscles that the Hunter had pulled from it as it rose, its old man's face twisted in a visage of fury as it raised the large weapon that it had been wielding over its head. The Hunter dodged to the side, before realizing that it was far, far too early and the bladed edge drove directly between neck and shoulder. A pained, choked gurgle escaped torn lips before the blackness overtook all…

-Devil's Hunt-

Katherine opened her eyes standing before the lantern once more with a gasp and made a mad dash for the elevator, pulled the mechanism and anxiously hopped from foot to foot while waiting for it to rise. It appeared and she couldn't stamp on the button fast enough, not even waiting for it to reach the ground before leaping off, rolling off the extra momentum and dashing forward through the tunnel with the praying villagers. She could hear them long before she could see them, the shouts and angry burn of Red Queen and the screams and shrieks of the Orphan as the two engaged in a deadly dance. Nero was holding up admirably in her absence but it was clear that he was beginning to tire and the Orphan showed no signs of slowing. The Hunter dove back into the fray and the two of them alternated in and out, trying to keep up with the immense power of the infant Great One. They had worn it down considerably as it paused, leaning down on the thing that Katherine had at one point realized was its umbilical cord. She hadn't been intending to give it any reprieve, adjusting her grip on the Saw Cleaver she'd started forward, only to stop as Nero grabbed her arm. The Hunter was glad that he had as energy _exploded_ out from the Orphan as it screamed, thrashing around wildly on its way toward them. Nero looked at her seriously but his smirk held a bit of mischief as he asked

"What if we all become beasts?"

A/N: I like the mental image of Nero trying to keep it busy while Katherine respawns and tries to make it back to them. It brings back memories of my friends and I when one of us gets invaded and everyone tries to drop their summon signs as quickly as they can. Anywho!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	23. A Man of Guts and Honor

A/N: Okay so I have what could be defined as the absolute definition of first world problems. Adam cranky with me and I'm cranky because he's cranky because in amongst all of this our grocery delivery isn't going and now we have to go get the groceries ourselves. Neither of us like doing it and now we're both cranky… like I said, first world problems…

Disclaimer: I do, in fact, own the groceries in my fridge.

A Man of Guts and Honor

Nero wasn't looking forward to his next words, but there were few other options available to them at the moment.

"What if we all become beasts?" he said to Katherine, he wasn't overly worried about going on a rampage against everything in the area. It's not like there was much left, not to mention he was going to need every bit of energy to try and beat back this creature before them. It flared out… wings? A cape? Gore? Nero wasn't sure and it mattered little as it leapt skyward, tossing out bits of flesh that exploded on contact with the ground. The duo rolled around them as the creature did its best imitation of a frog over their heads.

"Are you sure?" Katherine asked as they went back to back again, watching the monster warily as it landed once more.

"No time to-" he didn't get to finish his thought as it let out a wailing, anxious cry, and lightning split the sky, arcing through the water toward them from the body that Katherine had called Kos. They both raced for shore as the monster clambered after them, swinging its blade before it, the electricity not phasing it in the slightest.

"Shit!" Nero gasped as electricity tingled painfully through his back and legs. "Yes I'm sure! Blood! Now!" he shouted to Katherine, who had rolled slightly away from him in her own attempts to get away from the creature. She nodded, hand diving into the myriad of pockets that decorated her outfit and coming back with one of the blood vials that she had, syringe already loaded as she ducked under the creature and tossed it to him, he caught it and didn't hesitate before slamming the needle into his thigh just as he'd always seen the Hunter do and pushing the plunger home. The effect was nearly immediate and the partial devil felt his heart begin hammering away in his chest, the smell of the Orphan's blood taking priority in his brain. He needed to see more of it, the creature was _nothing_ to them. It wasn't worthy of the title that it had barely been born to. He reached back, feeling more in control of the bloodlust this time since he'd been expecting it and revved Red Queen as he dashed forward, gleeful grin splitting his face. The fire split the Orphan's skin so beautifully, the burnt flesh tearing open beneath blade and claw. He used his Breaker to grapple off to the side as the creature raised its own blade to strike at them again, only to be thrown off balance by the Hunter who had stepped in, their own eyes glinting with pent bloodlust as they struck, teeth of their saw hacking off bits of ragged skin and muscle. The devil hunter saw a chance and leapt forward, slamming a spectral wing down into the Orphan's leg, feeling their breath pick up at the sound of snapping bone. The Orphan let out another long, low howl, but this time, the partial devil nor the Hunter paid any mind to the lightning that raced down from the sky or through the water. The devil hunter would even argue that the shock of pain added to the cloud of bloodlust in his mind.

The fight had definitely turned in their favor now, but that wasn't to say that they escaped with no injuries from the battle. The partial devil took several as the bloodlust made him more careless, a smashing swipe from the Orphan sliced him from hip to shoulder and cracked more than one rib but Nero just laughed as the Old Blood went to work, stitching him up and healing that which had been broken mere moments before. There was a moment of stagger again from the Orphan and the devil hunter took full advantage, grabbing wings and arms alike, shoving the monster splayed to its knees and the Hunter caught on instantly, clawed fingers reaching up and _inside _the monster's ribcage, coming away coated in the milky blood and grasping the infant Great One's beating heart.

The Orphan collapsed onto the ground, any semblance of life fading from its ancient eyes as its lifeblood clouded the water at their feet. Both of them stood, panting, staring at one another for what felt like an age but was rather likely only a minute as the bloodlust slowly started to fade, satisfied for now.

"Thank you for lining that one up for me." Katherine said, breaking the silence.

"Figured it was your turn," Nero shrugged "I'm more surprised that it worked, that thing was crazy strong."

"Wow, a man with guts and honor, will wonders never cease." the Hunter said, shaking some of the gore from her own weapon. It was only then that Nero took a moment to look at his own state of disrepair and then her words caught up with him.  
"Wait, since when do you make jokes?" he said, and she just glanced up at him, mirth in bright red eyes.

"One has to lighten the mood from time to time." she said and Nero just shook his head

"I think I'm rubbing off on you." he told the Hunter, she sighed

"Is that such a bad thing? I keep more of my humanity speaking and joking with you. Before you came I feel that it was… slipping. This, while I struggle more with the bloodlust, is much better." the saw clanked open and then shut as the pair of them turned to face the next challenge.

A/N: I have cheesy ham soup for dinner :)

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	24. Do the Gods Love Their Creations

A/N: Alrighty, gonna get this going and hopefully finish up before my friends and I sit down to watch Inception together over the interwebs. I hope eveyone's staying safe and healthy!

Disclaimer: I don't even own Inception, the movie I'm about to watch with friends…

Do the Gods Love Their Creations

Katherine felt another rush as she tensed, seeing the shadow of the Orphan standing off to the side, hovering over the dead body of Kos. She was still rather riled up after that fight but when the shadow didn't move, didn't even twitch, she started to approach. Nero's gaze was rather heavy with concern as he watched her but she paid him no mind, if the thing turned out to be hostile, he'd step in. The hunter stepped right up to the shadow, it had more substance than the shadows cast upon the ground but it made no reaction when she stood directly before it; it simply continued to stare off into the pale sun. Katherine took a deep breath, adjusted her grip on the saw cleaver and swung hard. It's form crumpled, fading away like the shadows it appeared to be made of. As soon as it was gone the Hunter felt as though a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders, like there was some form of hope left in this gloomy pessimistic world. She knelt down and placed a bloody, gloved hand on the corpse on the ground

"You're finally freed from this nightmare." she whispered before standing and turning to face the devil hunter. He was lighting the lantern that had somehow appeared in the shallow water and looked at her expectantly.

"Where to next?" he asked and she shrugged, joining him at the lantern.

"I feel that returning to the Dream may be in our best interest. I have a feeling that this Nightmare… that it has ended somehow. The curse is no longer hanging heavy over those who join the hunt." she said, pondering the absence of the heavy feeling. The blood-drunkeness was still going to haunt them, it came from the Old Blood, not the curse, but they would no longer spend eternity trapped in a hell of their own making.

"Well that's good isn't it?" Nero asked as she knelt down before the lantern, ready to return and no longer have water soaking into her pant legs.

"I believe so, yes." they both closed their eyes as the messengers reached up around their boots. "But this was only one nightmare, there is still something horrible hanging over the waking world, we have yet to find the 'paleblood'." she continued as they stood from the gravestone in the Dream. Nero was shaking slightly, though he clearly was trying to hide it, what did he see between the dreamlands?

"Yeah, what is meant by that anyway?" he mumbled, appearing distracted.

"I must speak with the doll." Katherine told him and he made no motion to come after her, still shaken up by that which he experienced. She approached the doll after having slung her coat and weapons in the workshop, having no need to haul them around for now.

"Oh, good hunter." the doll greeted as she approached "I can hear Gehrman sleeping. On any other night, he'd be restless. But on this night, he sounds so very calm. ...perhaps something has eased his suffering…" Katherine smiled at her words, she didn't know how Gehrman was linked to the Nightmare but it reassured the Hunter that they'd accomplished something if it was putting the old hunter at ease. She knelt before the doll, holding out a hand to begin the ritual to channel the power of those she'd killed into her own blood.

Feeling stronger and more refreshed she stood, bowing slightly at the doll, who returned the motion, she went inside to seek out Nero, finding him sitting at the workbench, his own firearm disassembled upon the surface. She watched him work, the firearm was far more complicated than any of the ones that she'd found or worked on herself but his fingers worked with quick efficiency that spoke of muscle memory and many, many hours performing these very actions. She wasn't sure if he'd noticed her presence until he spoke without looking up at her.

"Do you believe in gods Katherine?" he asked suddenly. His voice was soft but the Hunter had no problem making out his question.

"I do not know, the Great Ones seem to be as powerful as any god. As for before this waking nightmare began, I cannot answer that." she said "Do you believe in gods?" she returned and he paused, snapping a few more pieces back into place on his firearm before answering.

"I didn't before. The place I grew up worshipped a demon as a god, I thought it was a load of shit, but now… Everything here just seems all sorts of upside down. The idea that there are gods here feels like it should be comforting but… do the gods love their creations, if that's what we are? I'm not sure I like the idea of their love, on the flip side, if they're apathetic to the insignificant things that wander the surface of the world… that's just as concerning." he sighed frustratedly, abandoning the half assembled gun and ran his hands through his short hair. Katherine put a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her, worry etched heavily onto his face.

"Some things are beyond what we can comprehend, thinking about it will get us nowhere and lead only to frustration, let us take back to the streets, the beasts aren't going to kill themselves." Nero nodded, turning back to his gun and snapping it back together before gathering his things.

"Where to next?"

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter but… eh, it is what it is. I'm going to practice some Saxophone and then watch a movie! Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	25. Every Deal Has a Price

A/N: Ugh… mistakes were made. It was 10:40 last night and I was like "I shouldn't do this mission of DMC5" and then I clicked start mission anyway. Some of my friends (who've never played any of the games) are watching me stream it via discord and their confusion over things is amazing. One of them has decided that when Dante is wielding King Cerberus he "sounds like a xiaolin monk on crack" which then had me giggling like crazy while fighting…

Disclaimer: I can't even claim that silly phrase

Every Deal Has a Price

Nero attempted and failed to wipe some of the gore from his person, the thing they'd just fought, the whole place that they'd worked their way through was a miserable, distorted hellscape covered in stitched together bodies and massive creatures that clung to the warped walls. Nero thought he'd be ready for strange places after the Nightmare but this was _fresh_, _new_ wounds on the world, the Nightmare had been old, some of the _visceral misery_ of it faded, this was different… Not to mention the horrible amalgamation that they fought at the end of the street. The partial devil was used to fighting big, gross monsters, it was part of the job description for _demon_ _hunter_, but he wasn't exactly accustomed to being showered in body parts when the thing tried to take a swipe at him. While disgusting, the creature had posed little threat to the pair of them, they'd just needed to keep wailing on it in between its clumsy strikes and it went down easy enough. Now the pair of them stood at the lantern and Katherine looked at him, just as covered with muck as he was.

"Shall we return? I don't feel I require the rest." she said, taking her hat off and shaking some of the gunk from it. Nero couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled out of his throat, he'd felt the same way after many, many a mission clearing out demon nests.

"I'm covered in muck but I'm not injured, we could continue if you want." he shrugged, Katherine nodded solemnly and the pair of them wandered onward, in short order finding themselves in a room that housed many, many bodies. Nero spun in a slow circle, taking them all in, they were all just… sitting. It looked almost like they'd mummified in their seats, even stranger still were the bizarre cages that rested on their shoulders, raising up above their heads like a parody of a hat. Katherine reached forward toward the one sitting front and center as the devil hunter continued to take in the scene around him but whirled around at the sound he heard behind him. It wasn't something he heard with his ears but rather _felt _in his bones. There were the briefest images of purple stars in place of Katherine but nothing else beyond the bones surrounding him.

"Katherine?" he asked, almost hesitant to break the silence of the room. There was no answer and Nero took a deep breath, reached forward and touched a hand to the skeletal remains in the chair. Much like when warping via the lanterns his vision glazed over and he caught the briefest glance of mad blue eyes before finding himself in a large building. The building looked almost like that museum that he and Dante had had to defend that one time… He shook his head and started forward, hoping to find Katherine in the massive building.

Within several minutes of searching the devil hunter realized that this was going to take a while, there were large lecture halls that were full of these strange goopy creatures that were wearing those funny graduation hats. They turned out to be more of a nuisance than a challenge as they had a penchant for hiding on the ceiling and in small nooks and would lunge out at him. Thankfully they were neither quick nor stronge and a good fiery slash from Red Queen was enough to disembowel them and continue with his search. He found some weird experiments and a good number of notes and books with mad ramblings within them but so far he had no sign of the Hunter. There was a pair of large doors that Nero assumed led to the outside world but the dust and grime that sat undisturbed in front of them led the partial devil to believe that Katherine hadn't left the building. The notes that had been scattered in the path caught his attention however and he picked them up, curious what nonsense he'd see now. "_The nameless moon presence beckoned by Laurence and his associates. Paleblood_." strange, but it was the first mention of Paleblood that he'd seen since Katherine had told him about it, perhaps it meant something. What was the moon presence? The moon over Yharnam was certainly big, red and ominous but beyond that it seemed harmless enough. "_Three third cords._" The other note stated in a scrawled, looping script, it was the same handwriting as the first though otherwise the devil hunter couldn't tell if they were meant to go together or not. He sighed, stuffing the notes into a pocket, and vaulted over the railing and down to the first floor, landing with a loud thump on the old wood. A singular book fell off a shelf and to the floor anticlimactically as the partial devil continued his search. There were a few more of those gooey scholarly types before hearing the sound of voices. It wasn't just the sound of rambling madness either, it was the sound of conversation and… Katherine's voice. He stepped up to the door and tried the knob first. It was locked but the voices on the other side halted, then Nero knocked, there was a pause and he saw Katherine's eyes peek through a break in the glass at him. She disappeared but the door swung inward to reveal the Hunter and a massive spider with the head of a man. Nero tensed but kept up a calm face. The spider-man laughed, a giggly sort of laugh that the devil hunter mistrusted immediately.

"Oh do tell, who is your friend?" the man-spider asked, frontmost legs twitching in front of him that had Nero suppressing a shiver of disgust.

"Nero." the partial devil said flatly, crossing his arms in front of him. The creature's eyes gleamed as he looked on the glinting metal of Nero's arm.

"Oh what a fascinating contraption. May we make a deal, a trade perhaps? A gift for a gift? For a friend?" he asked, spindly legs beginning to reach forward until Katherine shifted, the weapon in her hand clicking loudly as she did.

"Every deal has a price. Take your life and be satisfied with that." her eyes were cold ruby chips beneath the brim of her hat. The man-spider shifted uncomfortably before giggling again and bowing his head.

"Of course, of course, I wouldn't want to abuse our blossoming friendship now would I?" he shifted back on the table he was perched on and Katherine grabbed Nero's arm and started to drag him from the room. The partial devil kept an eye on the creature even as the door slammed, gleaming eyes watching them through the break in the glass.

"You took long enough." she said tiredly.

"I touched the creepy mummy right after you." Nero huffed "You didn't exactly make it easy to find you."

"Well you have succeeded. Have you found a route to leave this place?" she asked. Nero nodded and pointed in the direction of the big door

"Yeah, there's some doors over there, probably go outside, oh! Right. I found these, they mean anything to you?" he handed over the crumpled notes. Katherine smoothed them out, eyes scanning the scant words before looking at him strangely.

"I wish I knew what this one meant." she said, glancing at the longer one "But this one…" she dug around in her pockets for a long moment before pulling out something that Nero wrinkled his nose at but accepted anyway when she handed it to him.

"It's an umbilical cord from-" she started, Nero was about to drop the thing when it began to glow, as did his whole arm. A brief flash later and it was gone, that hadn't happened since… well since his Devil Bringer "an infant Great One…" Katherine finished slowly, still staring at where it had been. Nero swallowed thickly, his stomach roiling, and paused before asking

"It's… from a what?"

A/N: I still have people being very cranky about the chapter length, so I have a question for all of you, I can post once every three weeks with longer chapters, or continue as is. I don't have a lot of time to write fanfiction, as most of the time I spend writing goes to either preparatory work for the D&D campaigns I run or my own original works. So I s'pose let me know if you'd like longer chapters less frequently or to keep the current schedule.


	26. It Bends and Bleeds

A/N: I'm going to start writing this with the presumption that people will want longer chapters less frequently, but I suppose we'll see after I post the previous chapter. But either way, I'll start at this.

Disclaimer: Even if there's more words below about them, I still don't own them.

It Bends and Bleeds

Katherine was not anticipating her vision to blur and to shift like when shifting to the Dream when she'd touched the corpse. However, she should not have been surprised, everything in this nightmarish town did strange things, touching the mummified corpse probably had not been the best idea. When she opened her eyes she was standing in a strange building that she'd never seen before. There was a lantern not far from where she stood, unlit and dark in the dim room. She knelt, lighting the lantern as a safe haven and the messengers reached up in awe at her from the base, tiny hands arcing in the direction she stood and walked away in. What were they and why did they think so highly of the Hunters that graced them with their presence? It was a question that she was certain would never be answered but persisted in her mind all the same. She wondered briefly if she should wait for Nero, or how to get back to where she'd been before; would the devil hunter be able to follow her at all? Would he think to touch the creepy corpse that had just taken his partner? She could always go through the dream and back to the place in which they'd fought that monstrous pile of bodies. But what if he'd already touched the corpse and been transported here while she'd been shifting from realm to realm? She knew it took some time for the shift to happen, but not how long it took in actuality. The best course of action was to wait here and hope.

The problem with waiting and hoping that the partial devil would be foolish enough to touch the mummy as she had was that it was boring. Extremely so. She had no clock, nor watch, nor any method of telling how long had passed but after an estimated twenty minutes or so Katherine had had enough and stood, ready for _something_ to happen; she'd heard movement in other parts of the building and figured that there'd be a fight at least. She was right on that front at least, she realized, ducking behind a pillar as yet another slimy creature hurled a vial filled with some foul concoction at her. The Hunter sighed, waited for the sound of another vial hitting the pillar she'd ducked behind and then darted out, hefting her cleaver and slashing through the gooey body of the creature that had oh so kindly thrown things at her. It appeared to have been some sort of student at one point but clearly no longer kept up its studious activities. Regardless they weren't difficult to take down, just obnoxious when tossing vials of unknown substances at anything moving that they could see. She glanced over the railing, it was dark down below as well and she could see the movement of some things that moved and slid in motions that were suspiciously similar to the creatures that she'd just been fighting. However the drop was a bit more than she was comfortable taking without good cause, besides this building seemed logically built, there had to be a method down to the first floor somewhere…

She was certain that she'd found one such method when she heard the clinking of chains behind her and turned just in time to see a scrawny giant lifting a massive flaming fist to strike her. He may have been bean-pole skinny but Katherine was certain that she'd felt ribs crack from the blow as it hurtled her into the wall with a loud crash. She wheezed but her blood started to pound excitedly in her veins and the added adrenalin allowed her to roll out of the next strike without too much extra pain. There was barely enough time to jab a blood vial into her thigh and clamber back into the fight, she dodged several times before coming to the horrible realization that her cleaver had been knocked from her hands with the unexpected blow. She cursed heavily before reaching frantically into her coat, there had to be _something _in there that would work. Cool glass met her fingers and she yanked out a molotov. Well it wasn't what she'd been expecting but it certainly worked to buy her some time. She touched flame to the fabric and hurled, striking the giant right in the body, earning a shrieking cry from it as her hands delved into the many pockets of her coat once again. This time returned a more fruitful result, she came away with the weapon that she'd seen Eileen using what felt like a lifetime ago, the bath messengers had offered it to her when she'd shared some of her knowledge with them. She grinned, split it in two and darted back into the fray, taking advantage of the giant's distraction, slicing through thin tendons and straight to bone, the weapon was far sharper than she'd anticipated. The giant swiftly fell to the dual weapons, shaking the floor beneath them and the Hunter found herself suddenly concerned for the structural integrity of the building when boards cracked and wheezed but thankfully remained sturdy. She heaved a sigh of relief, tucking the weapon back into her coat for safekeeping, located the cleaver she'd grown so attached to and looked back at the ladder that had originally garnered her attention. The room beneath was full of other vials and glasses and… she tensed suddenly when she saw the body of a massive spider clung to the walls and most of the door. A spider with the head of a man… It must've heard her too as it spun, looking just as startled as she felt. It's creepy forearms twitched, twisting in front of it as though it didn't know what to do; Katherine felt her hand unconsciously grip her cleaver tighter.

"Huh! Oh, this cannot be, you cannot be... No, you didn't... Lord Amygdala... ...How did this come to pass? Hmph! Now, wait just a moment... Do you think ill of me, me?" it did the last thing that the Hunter thought it would and spoke, the words rushed and soft, like shuffling paper. Katherine wasn't sure how to respond, this… creature didn't seem to immediately mean her harm… but the things she'd met that didn't mean to kill her were few and far between. Her silence must've been taken for an answer as the creature began lamenting."Oh, it pains me to hear it. You've made yourself a misreckoning. I shared with you a thing most secret. Now you're witness to a miracle, and all the stronger for it! It's plain as a pikestaff. Now, say in my heart, you were as a lamb to my god. Well, you weren't to know, and it wasn't for you to know. All's well that ends well, I say. Heh heh heh!" The snickering laughter was probably the most unsettling thing about this whole situation. Katherine shivered and finally found her words again.

"I don't recall speaking with you before. How can you have shared a secret if we've never met?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly at the monster before her.

"Surely one such as you has many things on their mind." the spider said eagerly, shuffling slightly on the desk it was partially perched on. "No matter. Such details are trifling. We're fast friends by now. Let this express what words cannot. Oh, doubt me not, sweet compeer. What is

friendship, but a chance encounter?" It giggled again and Katherine suppressed a shiver, trying not to think about what being 'friends' with such a thing might mean. She realized that it was frantically scrabbling something on the desk, it was… it was a rune. Where did this thing learn that?

"If we are fair friends, then please tell me, how does one get to and from this place?" she asked, relaxing slightly. If nothing else she wasn't in _immediate _danger with this creature. It laughed again and the Hunter was finding herself more and more sure that it was unhinged.

"Through the blessing of the god of course!" he said, nodding as though this were the most basic of information. She just blinked, not sure of what that meant. Before she could think of a response there was a knock at the door. The pair stopped, staring at the door before Katherine stepped forward to look at who was on the other side; most beasts didn't bother with knocking. To her surprise and relief Nero stood on the other side, looking a bit covered in gunk but no worse for wear. She opened the door and allowed the partial devil inside. If it's reaction to her was strange, then the man-spider's reaction to Nero was even stranger though she put a stop to the devil hunter making a trade with the thing before it could be settled and she pushed for them to leave swiftly. Friendly or no, there was something about that creature that she didn't trust.

"Took you long enough." she told the partial devil, he frowned at her response, saying

"I touched the creepy mummy right after you. You didn't exactly make it easy to find you." the frustration of this place was clearly getting to both of them as Katherine found her own patience thinning.

"Well you have succeeded. Have you found a route to leave this place?" she asked. He nodded and pointed in the direction of the big door.

"Yeah, there's some doors over there, probably go outside, oh! Right. I found these, they mean anything to you?" He pulled some crumpled paper out of his pocket and offered it to her. She accepted them and smoothed them out, eyes scanning the scant words before looking up at the partial devil in confusion.

"I wish I knew what this one meant." she said, gesturing with the longer one "But this one…" she knew what it was referencing, and for the second time in far too short a time frame, dug around in her pockets before finding what she'd been looking for and offering it to the partial devil. Nero wrinkled his nose, the poor smells of most of the things she picked up no longer truly bothered her, but he took it from her anyway.

"It's an umbilical cord from-" she started to explain but trailed off when the devil hunter's arm began to glow, a brief flash later and it was gone, as though it'd never been there to begin with. "an infant Great One…" Katherine finished slowly, still staring at where it had been. Nero swallowed thickly, his stomach roiling, and paused before asking

"It's… from a what?" his face had turned a tad green when she said it, so she said slowly.

"The Great Ones… they're fated to lose their children, but doesn't mean that there aren't fragments left behind, like part of the umbilical cord from the infant."

"I heard you the first time…" he said, a look of focus coming over his face. He removed the mechanical arm and flesh and bone materialized where metal had just been. He continued to focus, looking at his arm like he expected something.

"Where did it go?" Katherine asked, her own curiosity peaked.

"I… my arm used to absorb things, powerful stuff, it didn't used to look like this." he said, waving his pristine arm vaguely, it looked out of place when the rest of him was covered in grime. Katherine felt her hand go back into the pocket that had had the cord in it, she had two others, one from a rather disturbing creature she'd found at the foot of a hysterical woman who had forgotten to lock her door and the other from that mad doctor she'd put down, it'd been wiggling stubbornly in her womb even after her body had died. She couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her when it wiggled once more, as though the cord itself were a living thing, not just a piece of a half-formed creature that was never meant to be. Katherine let go of the thing but it had already wrapped around her hand and was squirming its way up her arm under her shirt, she yelped and started to try to get it off. Nero looked up at her, a worried expression on his face and his hands hovering over her but unsure how to help.

"What…?"

"Just! Get it off!" she shouted, yanking her coat followed by her vest off, buttons flying as the threads tore in her haste. She could _feel _the damn thing squirming across her ribs, sticking to her skin like a massive, slimy slug. The formerly white undershirt was yanked up just in time to see the thing latch onto her belly button, going from her outsides to her insides in the blink of an eye.

"No, nonono!" She scrambled at the smooth skin of her abdomen, as though she could tear it back out of her body but her flesh looked no different that it ever did. And then she _understood_. Everything started to click into place, she could _hear them_. The Hunter hadn't heard them since the beginning of this nightmare, that first moment, after the messengers had reached for her face. Now the voices whispered once again, not continuously, not loudly, but she could hear them speak every once in a while, revealing the secrets of the universe. She looked back at Nero who was watching her in horror and confusion.

"Are… are you okay?" he asked slowly, all she could do it nod at him. He raised an eyebrow at her skeptically

"You sure? You just had a creepy squirmy thing crawl inside of you." he said, Katherine just laughed, perhaps it sounded a bit unhinged but it felt good to release the tension. He just continued to watch her with concern.

"So did you." she said, gesturing vaguely at his arm.

"Yeah, but I've had that happen before? I certainly wasn't happy about it, and very creeped out about it but… I don't know, watching that thing worm its way into your body gives me the creeps, more than this whole place already does. You seemed pretty unsettled when it was happening." He was looking into her eyes like he was going to see all the way through to her soul there. Who knows, perhaps he could…

"Are you not able to hear them?" she asked, matching his worried gaze with an excited one of her own.

"Hear what?" he looked around them like she was speaking of the pathetic beasts that were wandering these halls.

"The _voices_. _Their _voices." she said excitedly. Nero paused, his face scrunching up for a moment before he looked at her cautiously.

"You mean between the worlds? The… the _things_ that live there? I don't… I don't really hear them here, but sometimes I can almost _see_ them, their voices, they sort of… bend? And bleed? It doesn't really make any sense but that's what I've noticed, if that's what you're asking?" he said. She nodded, still trying to adapt to the additional sensory input.

"So you understand. They whisper the secrets." she took a deep breath "Wait… have you always been able to hear them?" The partial devil paused for a moment and then nodded.

"Ever since I've come here I've heard them whenever we travel between the dream and the nightmare or this place…" he shivered "It's… unsettling to put it mildly."

"It's enlightening." she whispered, blood practically _trilling_ in her veins as she pondered the possibilities of the things that may be revealed to her. She could tell that Nero was still watching her with concern, but she couldn't find it in herself to care as she reached into her coat pocket and grabbed the last cord. By the time he'd realized what she'd done, surging forward as if to stop her, it was too late. The last cord disappeared beneath flesh to join the first and Katherine grinned as the secrets of the world became clearer still.

"What the hell? Why the fuck did you do that?!" Nero shouted at her, shaking her shoulders as though it may just rattle the cords out of her. She just smiled beneath her mask at him

"I understand now." she said, and she did, but how to explain it to him, how to get _him_ to understand.

"Great, fantastic," he threw up his hands and looked at the ceiling of the building "she understands!" the heavy sarcasm in his voice was not appreciated, they were in an insane world, sometimes they needed to do insane things to make sense of it… The Hunter gave him a sour look and he sighed heavily.

"Now that's a look that makes sense." he said "At least you've stopped giggling like you've lost your goddamn mind."

"I wouldn't pass judgement yet. I understand so much more now, but I may cease making sense to you." she said, pulling her undershirt and vest back on and buttoning the remaining buttons before sliding back into her coat, shivering lightly as the voices whispered louder for a moment before fading back into the background.

"You going to be okay?" the partial devil asked, handing her her cleaver that she'd dropped in her earlier panic.

"At least for the moment." she said, gratefully accepting the weapon.

"Fantastic, now let's get the fuck out of this creepy ass building." Nero said gesturing toward the large double doors. Katherine nodded in agreement and settled her weight, pushing them open with a heavy groan. The swirling cosmos that greeted them halted them both in their tracks.

"Y'know what? This building isn't so bad." Nero said. Katherine rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling them both through the rift in space.

A/N: Alrighty, well I hope everyone's satisfied now with the chapter length, I'm going to go do some DMing work now! Hope everyone has had a great memorial day!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	27. Is Sanity the Price to Pay?

A/N: Getting used to this not switching perspective as often with longer chapters, haven't decided if I like it or not…

Disclaimer: Even though there's more words, doesn't mean I own any of it.

Is Sanity the Price to Pay

Nero was more than a little concerned for Katherine's sanity, one moment she'd been shouting to get the creepy little squirmy thing off of her and the next she was laughing hysterically and speaking nearly complete gibberish before pulling out another one of the creepy things and intentionally fusing it into herself. The devil hunter flexed his hand a couple of times, he'd never been comfortable with the fact that his Devil Bringer had absorbed random arcane bits and bobs but he wasn't overly surprised to find out that it was something that was going to continue after the Bringer was no longer a part of him. But Katherine? She didn't seem to have any reason for that… _thing_ to have fused with her, it made him extremely uncomfortable that she now had two of them inside of her, let alone that there was one in him. Was he going to start spewing gibberish too? Seeing things that weren't there? The stuff that Katherine had described sounded like the awful shit that he always saw between the worlds but it sounded like she was seeing and hearing it _here_ now too.

_Hunter_

The wordshapesound echoed through his head as they passed between one world and the next, the transition occurring through a doorway. The partial devil wasn't thrilled that they were going through it to begin with, the horrors between realities whispering to him in clearer shapes now. Being able to better understand them didn't seem like a good thing to the devil hunter but it seemed that neither of them had much choice in the matter. He shook his head as he stood on solid ground once more, as though the motion was going to remove the imagesound from his mind. It didn't. He looked over at his compatriot who merely stared up at the sky as though it suddenly held all the answers. When he'd first run into the Hunter she'd been just as mentally shaken, mind stirred into a slurry, then after some time together she'd started to improve, seeming more and more human when the bloodlust didn't have her in it's thralls. Now it felt like she'd regressed back to that mad creature that had fought him in the streets outside that clinic.

"Katherine?" he asked, reaching a hand out tentatively to touch her. She took a deep breath when his hand connected with the fabric of her jacket and turned to look at him, red eyes alight in a way that seemed different from the bloodlust.

"We've come to the edge of the Nightmare." she said, as if that made any sense. Nero didn't want to encourage the ramblings however and just nodded.

"Yeah, where to next?" he asked, actually looking around and taking in their surroundings now that he was sure that the Hunter wasn't going to just start shrieking at the sky. Granted that never seemed to be completely off the table but the chances were low right now. There was a lantern before them and he knelt to light it, the same feeling of frustration overtaking him as it always did when he saw one of these lanterns, damn things had gotten him into so much trouble, if only he hadn't touched that one in the warehouse… he stood, dusting his knees as much as he could and looked around.

The sky was far brighter than most of the nightmares that they'd been through, covered with a thick layer of clouds but almost assuredly daytime rather than the ominous, ever present night that he'd become accustomed to. Stones and… the partial devil wasn't sure if they were gravestones or just happened to look like them dotted the stony landscape. Hardy bits of flowers and grasses stuck up now and again and… his fist clenched when he noticed the beast that was sitting and looking out toward the distant horizon. Katherine followed his gaze, seeming to have shaken the awe from before and shifted her grip on her cleaver. He nodded at her, plan already forming between the pair of them as they stalked forward toward their prey.

Two strong strikes later and the beast lay dead at their feet, unable to have even made a sound as they overpowered it in seconds. The corpse was mangled and Nero was unable to tell if it was because of the cleaver and his sword or if it was a twisted thing to begin with.

"Well, where to next?" he asked, looking over the cliff that the creature had been staring off. The fog was accumulated thickly off in the distance and Nero briefly wondered if there was land or water down below until he noticed the ship masts in the distance.

"There seems to be a path this way." Katherine pointed just off to his side, she was right, in a way. It wasn't much of an actual path and just that the ground happened to slope downward. He shrugged and followed after her.

-Devil's Hunt-

They made their way through many of the strange twisted creatures. Nero was off put by their sideways heads but they weren't that much worse than many demons that he'd put down before his nightmare place. They'd just made their way back up to another ledge and Katherine touched his shoulder.

"Look." she pointed at something that caught the sun and glinted, it appeared to be metal perhaps? She went forward and picked it up, revealing a golden coin in the sun, she looked it over before tossing it to the devil hunter who caught it reflexively as she continued forward.

"There's another one…" she muttered as Nero took a look at the coin in his hands. It seemed to be currency, though not one he was familiar with… There was the barest sound of a shuffle and Nero looked up in time to see that thrice damned man-spider thing charging out of the bushes toward Katherine. The creepy crawly was too fast for the devil hunter as he dropped the coin and charged forward, sword already drawn and ready for action. Katherine only gave a single curse as the beast pushed her, her balance failing her as she went tumbling over the edge of the cliff and down. It was laughing maniacally even as Red Queen bit into cartilaginous flesh, tearing unsympathetically through and spilling whitish guts upon the ground in a pile. Nero revved Red Queen one more time, just for good measure, the creature in its death throes beneath his blade.

"That was uncharitably done dear friend…" it managed to get out before the light faded from its eyes and it went limp, horrible hairy legs curling in toward its body.

"I'm not your friend." Nero grumbled, pulling Red Queen from the smoking wound in its body and whipping it through the air once to clear some of the muck before looking over the edge cautiously, afraid he was about to see Katherine's broken body upon the rocks. Instead he saw her moving, if a bit slower than usual. He vaulted over the cliff and landed lightly on his feet, not fearing insane heights was one benefit of his demonic blood that he didn't often consider or thank. He did now.

"You okay?" he asked, holding out a hand so she could get to her feet.

"Yes- look out!" she pushed him down and her shotgun was out in the blink of an eye, blasting away a strange crawling tentacled creature that was making its way toward them. He grabbed it with his Breaker while it was still recovering from the spray of the gunshot and yanked it toward them, right onto the blade that the Hunter had produced from somewhere in her coat. She shook the blood from the blade as it squirmed, dying on the ground.

"There's likely more." she said, glancing warily from side to side of the small canyon they'd found themselves in. Nero was about to spit back a retort when a hissing sound met his ears and his gaze quickly located the source. The grimy brackish water that they were standing in was more than just water as it slowly continued to eat through their clothes and boots.

"Oh, screw this." Nero grumbled, hooking an arm around Katherine and grabbed one of the high rocks with his Breaker, vaulting them back up to the top in a matter of seconds.

"That's useful." Katherine said, stepping back away from him and inspecting the damage to her pant legs and boots with a fair bit of annoyance in her gaze.

"Yeah," Nero was irritated to see that his own boots hadn't fared much better than the Hunter's the leather well and truly destroyed. "Damn… didn't want to have to replace these so soon." he grumbled, shaking his head.

"Perhaps the messengers will repair them when we transport back to the Dream." Katherine said hopefully, ripping the damaged section of her pants away and adjusting the leather guard she had strapped to her shin.

"I doubt it, this is probably too much for them." Nero said, glancing at the new undershirt he'd had to dig through one of the musty chests in the dream to find after Maria had… he shook his head, probably shouldn't be considering that for too long right now…

"Well, should we head back? Or rough it along until the next lantern rears its head?" he asked, the Hunter paused, mulling his words over.

"We've made a lot of progress, I would hate to have to find our way this far again." she said steadily, stowing the blade back in her coat and standing, cleaver once again at the ready. The partial devil nodded once in agreement, mentally preparing himself and looking for the next bit of pathway that would lead to revelation or beasts… likely both.

-Devil's Hunt-

When the large spider-like thing vaulted off of the wall and down in front of the two of them, making a noise that no living creature should be able to make, Nero just laughed, pulling his sword from his back.

"I knew you spider wannabe's couldn't be trusted!" he revved Red Queen in the stony ground, the rumble of the blade like a soothing balm over his nerves and the excitement that pulsed in his blood. Katherine shot him a sideways glance, probably wondering what the heck he was doing. He paid her no mind, instead watching the monster before them, it made him feel better to taunt his enemies, whether they were capable of responding or not. They'd seen things like this hanging off the walls in Yahar'gul, one of which had fired white hot lasers at them while they bolted down the stairway. It would be nice to finally be able to take out his frustrations on one.

It raised its arms over its head, the pair of them easily dodging out of the way as they came slamming back down, kicking up dust and dirt all around. As it did Nero reached forward with his Breaker and pulled himself toward the head that had way more eyes than it had any right to have. It flinched, white goo trailing from its head as Nero slashed at it, clearly not appreciating the attention that the half devil was giving it.

The devil hunter was just starting to submit to gravity again when it tensed, leaping backward like some thin, oversized frog; it's landing shook the arena they'd found themselves in and it cried out again, eyes bulging from the sporadically placed sockets as it fired off another laser. Nero cursed and rolled, the heat from it singing the hair on the back of his neck as the creature swung its head, and subsequently, the laser, in all directions. Katherine also rolled around the laser, Nero hadn't noticed up until now that her own fighting style had started to change over time to be more like his own, incorporating more verticality into it rather than simple strikes and dodges. She was starting to make use of the strange strength lended to her by the blood. He didn't think that she'd ever end up in the air like the partial devil did for practically minutes at a time but it was interesting to see how she adapted with another's fighting style influences. Dashing forward to grab at the creepy head with his Bringer and _shove_ one of his wings brutally into the fleshy eye; he wondered if his own style was being influenced by the Hunter's.

The creature shrieked and flailed, shaking the devil hunter from its skull and he rolled as he struck the ground, breaking his fall.

"Nero!" he heard Katherine shout, he looked up just in time to see one of the spindly hands grab hold of him and he was flung, the walls of the ornate building coming up a bit quicker than he'd like. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it was not the first time he'd been tossed like an oversized baseball and he flipped, absorbing the momentum through his feet and knees, Breaker digging into the wall to keep him there. The Hunter had turned back to the fight, unable to justify wasting time worrying over him, good. She landed a great shot on its head, also tearing out bits of eyes and whatever else she could reach, the monster reeling back just as Nero launched himself forward, Red Queen leading the charge as he slammed into it at high velocity, knocking it from it's stubby back legs and onto it back. Katherine and Nero both got in as many hits as they felt they could as the monster got to its feet, reaching behind itself to yank its own arms from its body, blood and fluid spurting from the newly created stumps.

"Look out!" Nero shouted "It's armed!" he couldn't help the pun as it slipped from his lips, adrenaline and the blood was burning hot in the fight and he was feeling a bit more like his old self, fighting and making quips as easily as breathing. He wondered if his compatriot appreciated the joke. He doubted it when Katherine, having impressively caught one of the falling arms with crossed blades over her head, shoved the limb toward him to deal with. He did, laughing as he took several vicious swipes at the bony arm and backed away. Between the wounds on its back and the unrelenting force of the pair of them the creature was soon defeated, collapsing onto the ground in a tangled pile of limbs and oozing wounds.

Katherine, as unperturbed by the grime as ever, seemed to notice something within the massive skull and reached in, yanking out what looked at first like a large cup but upon closer inspection appeared to be a skull fashioned into a cup. Nero raised a brow and pointed at the bizarre artifact.

"Think it was all angry cause that was stuck in its head?" he asked. The only response he received was a frustrated side eye. He sighed, kneeling to light the lantern as some of the battle high started to fade. "C'mon, you can't be mad about that pun forever." he said, rising again as purple light flickered into existence around the lamppost and messengers began springing from the ground. "So what is that?" he pointed at the skull. Katherine seemed to pause, deciding if he was worth answering now.

"It's a chalice." she said, shaking some of the blood from within the skull and inspecting it deeper.

"I can see that." Nero said flatly, only to see the smirk reach her eyes from behind her mask, she was just returning the favor of being difficult.

"It allows us to enter the tombs of the gods from the Dream." she said "If you have the right sacrifice materials."

"You know that made absolutely no sense."

"I keep wondering if sanity is the price to pay for answers here." she shrugged "It almost makes as much sense as shouting out a cheesy pun at your partner while fighting a giant monster."

"You're not going to let that go are you?" Nero rolled his eyes and gestured to the lamp before them "Are we going to go back to the Dream or not?" Katherine kneeling before the lantern while taking his hand gently was answer enough.

-Devil's Hunt-

After Katherine had done the strange ritual with the Doll that she always insisted on doing whenever they were in there and they both had done the usual work on their respective weapons and felt that their clothes and gear were up to snuff they found themselves standing at the branching point in the small path outside the workshop, the two paths of gravestones lining each direction.

"Now what?" Nero asked. "I think there's another door in the creepy lecture building, but you also picked up that weird chalice that you said can take us somewhere."

"I also have this letter." she said, holding out an ornate, if roughed up piece of parchment. The wax seal had been broken but it was addressed to Katherine.

"How long has that been in your pocket?" Nero asked, taking it and scanning the contents. It was an invitation to a place called 'Cainhurst' and the folded corner was heavily stained with blood that had long since dried to a crusty brown. Katherine seemed to think about his question heavily, not that Nero could blame her, time had been… strange since they'd gotten here. "Nevermind, it probably doesn't matter." he waved her off. "So we can go back to the creepy school, wherever the creepy skull chalice is going to take us, or follow up on this mysterious letter addressed to you that is probably going to be a trap."

"The letter is an invitation." Katherine said quietly "Perhaps they won't attack us on sight."

Nero scoffed and shook his head "I really, really _hope _you're right… as unlikely as that is."

A/N: Finally making progress! Also I couldn't help the pun… sorry not sorry. I'm still up in the air if they'll really delve the chalice dungeons. I personally love them but I know not everyone's a big fan.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	28. Forbidden Blood

A/N: Ugh, feeling so off kilter cause I didn't get as much done yesterday as I would've liked, spent most of the day at my parents for Father's Day, so time well spent but now I just feel like I'm playing catch up…

Disclaimer: I own these about as much as I own Father's Day, which is to say, not at all.

Forbidden Blood

"Are you sure that it's here?" Nero asked her as they took out several more hunting dogs. When the air was quiet again Katherine checked the letter once more.

"Quite sure." she said, holding out the letter to him. "It states Hemwick crossing. We are at Hemwick crossing where else could it be?" she asked, starting to get annoyed with the partial devil. He snatched the letter away again, glancing over the contents.

"It also says "do not hesitate", how long ago did you pick this up?" he asked again. Katherine couldn't help the beleaguered sigh that escaped her lips before she answered.

"I found it just prior to encountering you for the first time." she said slowly, as though the repeated answer had a higher chance of sinking in if delivered at a measured pace. Nero gave her a flat look.

"I remember what you said before, I just wanted to be sure." he said, handing her the piece of parchment back.

"If you are not sure after the sixth time you should be concerned for your memory." she stated, snatching it back rather angrily. Nero was about to give some sort of snide remark, she could tell, until he was interrupted by the sound of hooves on pavement. Both of them watched curiously as a carriage pulled up, horses unguided by a driver and the entire thing smelled of musty decay. Katherine raised an eyebrow at her compatriot and swung the door open.

"I think this is for us." she said, Nero eyed the whole thing skeptically.

"No, must be for the ax wielding maniacs down there." he said, gesturing with his thumb down the path away from them. When she didn't react he sighed heavily and followed her into the carriage.

"I don't trust the creepy driverless horse drawn carriage." he grumbled as he settled into the musty velvet seats. Katherine rolled her eyes, pulling her hat from her head and leaning into the sidewall, between one deep breath and the next she was asleep.

-Devil's Hunt-

She was awoken by a gentle shaking at her shoulder, she jolted and looked at the devil hunter who had reached forward to gently rouse her.

"Sorry." he whispered, "We just went over some sort of bridge and the horses were slowing down, I think we might be almost there." Katherine nodded at him, yawning and trying to shake the sleep from her mind and the stiffness from her limbs. Her neck was cramping horribly from sleeping at such a strange angle and she wondered if in the before she'd ever fallen asleep in a carriage like this one.

"You didn't sleep?" she asked as she started to feel more awake, the whispers from beyond the veil dimming to a gentle lull in the background as dreams slipped into consciousness. Nero shook his head

"Can't sleep in vehicles." he said simply. She wondered what other vehicles he meant when he said that; most descriptions of the world that he came from went over her head, almost too fantastical to even be real.

The carriage slowed to a halt and both of them waited to see if it would pick back up again. When no motion was forthcoming Katherine sat forward, putting her hat back on and opening the door to view wherever it was that they'd ended up. They were both startled by the shock of cold air that rushed in to greet them.

"How long were we travelling?" Katherine asked the partial devil, who just gave a vague shrug, time seemed to both speed along and drip sluggishly in this world, she couldn't blame his nonanswer. She stepped from the carriage and looked up at the grand castle that rose from the frigid mountains ominously.

"Uh… Katherine?" Nero said from behind her, she turned to find him looking down at what had been their horses, the bodies now corpses, laying on the cobblestones and frozen over as though they'd been there for ages. Looking beyond the horses…

"The bridge is gone too." she said, pointing to the vast empty chasm that now greeted them.

"Great, there goes our way back." Nero grumbled, flipping up the collar of his jacket against the cold. "Have I mentioned that I don't have a good feeling about this place?"

"You may have brought it up." Katherine said with a sly grin. "However it appears our only option is forward." she said, pausing just long enough to light the lantern on their way toward the large building.

They both paused as they noticed something move, the smell of blood thick in the air. The large creature resembled a tick, if one had crossed it with a human perhaps, similar in appearance to some of the ones that she fought in the Nightmare. Katherine tensed as it lifted its head appearing to scent the air with a long lashing tongue before springing at them.

The creature was not much of a fight for the pair of them, Katherine's cleaver and Nero's blade biting into soft flesh, killing the creature quickly. And messily. The flesh split, spewing blood in all directions, covering the two of them thoroughly. The Hunter made a face, shaking some of the warm fluid from her arm.

"That was… y'know I think I'll stick to shooting them." Nero said, wiping some of the blood from his face.

"That sounds like a wonderful plan." Katherine said, pulling out her fire-arm as several more of the tick-like creatures started in their direction; likely attracted by the smell of fresh blood. They continued to fight off the creatures, primarily from a distance but by the time they'd cleared the small area before the castle there was more blood than cloth visible on both of them. Katherine was accustomed to being coated in all sorts of gods-know-what but that didn't make the process any easier each time it happened. She was nearly sure that she'd forgotten what it felt like to be clean by the time they reached the main door of the castle. One mighty heave and they slid open, dust that had sat undisturbed for a long time being swept up into their faces. Nero coughed lightly, waving a hand in front of his face in a useless attempt at trying to rid the air of it.

"I wonder what happened here?" he said as they looked around the rather empty shelves and ladders in the dim light.

"I do not know." Katherine said softly, as though this were a place that would be disturbed by her voice alone. "Though the bodies we encountered on our way in do not bode well." she said and Nero nodded, taking a couple of cautious steps into the room. He hadn't made it far before he ducked with a muttered

"Shit!" and some sort of dart flew through the space he had just occupied, Katherine didn't wonder after it, she'd already started in the direction that it had originated in, taking to a table or two before landing on the stairs the small, frail creature stood on. The Blades were already in her hands and into the creature's body before it had the time to react, giving only a soft wheeze as it died. Katherine grinned beneath her mask, the Blood was burning a bit hotter in her body right now. That was probably the only thing that saved her as her ears picked up the sound of ethereal sobbing and she was already ducking before it registered. She turned and fought off a knife stab from a rather angry ghost, as Nero was already at work with two more, fiery sword piercing through the ghosts as though they were part of the material world. Well that was one less thing to worry about, and the Hunter sunk her own blades into the ghostly body before her, severing its connection to this world in two quick swipes. It wailed as it faded away, soon leaving the room in silence.

"So we're exploring a haunted house, great." Nero sighed, eyes now flitting warily around the room as they knew more of what to expect.

"They were all women." Katherine said, the partial devil simply raised a brow at her.

"So?"

"That seems unusual for a castle of this size." she said.

"Could be exclusive." Nero shrugged, giving a snarky response was clearly a knee-jerk reaction for him as he paused, thinking the matter over further. "Their hands were bound. I don't think they were just killed, I think they were executed." Katherine nodded at him, though unpleasant, that seemed apt to be true.

"Do you recall if the bodies outside were male or female?" she asked, trying to recall herself and coming up short.

"I don't, we were a bit preoccupied, I'd be surprised we noticed them at all if you didn't have the habit of rifling through the pockets of every corpse we see." he teased as they moved forward, deeper into the castle.

"They often have useful tools." she said as though that were the most sensible explanation, and it was, why waste the blood or the bullets just because of some old taboo of disrespecting the dead? The dead didn't care and neither did their loved ones if their corpses had just been left on the street to rot.

"Yeah, a mystery bottle of liquid, very useful. Or better yet, blood that we have no idea where it comes from, blood that you keep insisting on injecting into yourself." the partial devil rolled his eyes

"I'm sure that the "mystery liquid" has a use, else none of those hunters would have been carrying it. I simply do not know what that use is yet. As for the blood, that blood saved your life." she said and Nero sighed, a shiver running down his spine and his tongue snaking over his lips as he considered it, Katherine wasn't sure if he was even aware of the motions. She often wondered if that had been the right choice, after all he may have just revived at the lantern, just as she always did. But that was not a guarantee. She wondered if Nero had gained the Insight that she had to help temper the beastly urges or if his demonic heritage interfered with that.

"Yeah, don't remind me…" he grumbled, he seemed discomforted but rounding into the next room didn't give them time to consider it as they ran into a very large grouping of ghosts.

The fight was a pleasant distraction from the ponderings that Katherine had found her mind wandering down, both about her compatriot and about the history of the castle that they were exploring. But it was over too quickly to erase them from her mind entirely and she couldn't help but mull over the creatures that they'd slain. If the hunters outside had been the men of the castle, or at least anyone trained to fight, and all of the women in here were ghosts, clearly whomever had attacked had made it through. But where were the attackers…? Had they simply slaughtered everyone and left? Or were they waiting further up ahead?

The castle appeared to have been abandoned for some time and was in a rather major state of disrepair, the two of them resorting to using Nero's ability to grapple up walls to explore more of the castle and even found themselves traversing the roof.

"Why are we out here again?" Nero asked, clearly shivering. Katherine had been doing her best to ignore the chill in her own bones but seeing her friend's lips turning blue brought it to the front of her mind. She shivered herself but dropped from one ledge to another, the partial devil following behind despite his complaints

"I'm trying to find out who invited me here." she said simply. The letter had been a mystery, why had it been addressed to her? Who had done so? There had been no signature on the letter, only that it was from "Cainhurst", which was very unhelpful. She continued forward, the roof path a bit easier to follow now.

"I don't think that you're going to find them on the roof." Nero grumbled, taking out a beast from a distance, the bat-like creature's body falling off the rooftop to the ground below.

"Yes. However vast portions of the castle are destroyed, I find traversing the roof far easier than removing rubble." she stated, continuing along the ice-slicked stones.

"Do you know anything about this place? Or the people who used to live here?" he asked, he seemed to be asking more to take his mind from the cold, or at least that was what Katherine presumed, she was all too happy to acquiesce, to take her own mind from the shivers that kept shaking her arms.

"I spoke with someone about it," she said "he seemed a bit… eccentric-"

"And everyone here isn't?" Nero snorted. Katherine sighed before continuing.

"He was very enthusiastic about someone whose teachings he followed, a man by the name of Logarius. Purportedly, Logarius is still here, as some form of gatekeeper for the ruler here."

"Your informant may have been mistaken, we haven't found anyone here who isn't dead or a beast." the partial devil said, taking a moment to look over the edge of the roof, the ground was obscured by the swirling snow, making it almost appear as though they were walking in the clouds.

"Very true. However when he mentioned the people who lived here, the Vilebloods, it was with disgust, but there was respect there too. I hope that these Vilebloods have more answers, perhaps even some power that could help us." the Hunter mused. Nero stopped, looking at her curiously.

"What the hell kinda name is 'Vilebloods?'" he asked

"I do not know, the man, Alfred I think his name was, told me that they were created from a forbidden blood, brought here from Byrgenwerth." they both stopped behind some pillars that blocked some of the bitingly cold wind, both of them rubbing their hands together, trying to keep circulation going.

"Forbidden blood? I thought that Healing Church was all about blood, why would they consider any of it-" he stopped mid sentence, a realization striking him "you think it might be the Paleblood don't you?" he said. She nodded

"It is an appropriate conclusion. Though that doesn't explain why the church doesn't have any knowledge of Paleblood, though they may not think outsiders to be worthy of the information." Katherine said, Nero huffed

"Reminds me of my hometown." he said bluntly. The confusion must've been plain on her face as he carried on "They weren't big on 'outsiders' either. Even if you were born there if you didn't fit in with the Order it was hard to get along, things are changing now but it's a long slow process to change a whole city's worth of people's habits." he shrugged, but Katherine could tell there was something behind that, it was more than he was saying. The more time she spent with him, the easier he became to read, she wasn't sure if it was familiarity or if she was having an easier time remaining in touch with her humanity but she placed a gloved hand on his shoulder, not caring that both were covered in semi-frozen blood.

"You were one of the ones who 'didn't fit in with the order' were you not?" she said gently, he glanced at her, scoffed and shook his head.

"Like I said, it's a lot better now, but yeah. I didn't exactly see eye to eye with the Order all the time, 'sides, they weren't huge fans of my demonic heritage; not that I knew I had any at the time." he stepped away from the pillar they were hovering behind, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation. Katherine let him go, unsure of what an appropriate response would have been, she wasn't a huge conversationalist, nor did she have prior experiences of comforting others to draw on, there would've been no point.

Nero had taken several steps through the archway, arm up to protect his face from some of the swirling snow and then he stopped.

"Hey, uh, your friend mention what that Logan dude looked like?" he called back over his shoulder. Katherine jogged the couple of steps to meet him.

"He did not, why do you ask?" she said. In response, the partial devil just pointed at the corpse that sat in the massive chair, crown upon its head and a large scythe-like weapon in its bony grip.

"Y'know after last time we saw a dead body in a chair, I'm not inclined to believe he's actually dead." Nero grumbled, pulling Red Queen from his back and settling into a more combat-ready pose. The Hunter took another step forward, hoping he was wrong but tensed her grip on her blades anyway.

It was a good call as there was a cracking sound and the fingers of the corpse moved, ice breaking away from the desiccated skin. A shoulder twitched, the other hand moved, and a horrible wheezing sound came from it as lungs that had sat dormant for a long time surged back to life. The figure surged upward, ice and frost breaking off of long frozen clothes and skin as it took a staggering step, leaning heavily on the staff of its weapon. Katherine waited, she wasn't going to attack until she knew whether this was an enemy or not. Another assisted, unsteady step. And then the figure straightened, all stiffness gone from its posture, and swung the scythe-like weapon in a smooth gesture as it prepared to fight.

"Hope you're ready to beat up an old man." Nero taunted, she smirked beneath her mask.

"Not the first time this Hunt."

A/N: I feel like I waffle between making Katherine sound more appropriate for the Victorian-esque era of Bloodborne, and giving Nero sass back. Anyway next time we'll be getting to Analise, woo!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	29. If You are Successful

A/N: So I'm… trying something right now, not at all sure it's going to work, I'm running a test at work in which I have 2 and a half minutes between actual active work, which is not really enough time to do my job, but maybe I can do this? We'll see…

Disclaimer: I don't even own this laptop

If You are Successful

The duo dodged and darted about the surprisingly quick corpse. Nero was still on the fence if there was any sort of consciousness in there or if he was like the beasts they so often faced, mindless and running on instinct alone. His ferocity was the same as any beasts but the calculated dodges and parry's made the partial devil think there may be some of the old man still behind the desiccated eyes. Regardless the martyr was no match for the two of them, particularly when he'd tried to cast some form of magic to keep one of them off of him, Nero had snatched the sword that had clearly been the source of the magic with his Breaker and smashed the conjured blade against the ground where it'd shattered like ice. Twice afterward the walking corpse had tried to do that trick, one of them destroying it before it had a chance to do more than glow. The waves of smokey skulls however, those hurt, and worse, made them stumble, stealing important breath away and causing them to step back to try to recover.

However after a short ten minutes that internally felt more like hours, Katherine managed to spear the old man through the throat, her blades cutting off his wheezes into a wet gurgle as he died and this time, remained that way.

They both stood there for a long moment, breath fogging in the frigid air, the lantern became visible to their eyes but even after it was lit, nothing seemed to happen, they stood on an empty roof with an already cold corpse next to them.

"Now what?" Nero asked. Katherine's red eyes flicked around them, seeming to search for some sign of what they needed to do next.

"I… That cannot be the end of it." she muttered, kneeling next to the corpse and beginning to rifle through its pockets. The ease with which she disrespected the dead continued to surprise Nero, sure he may dink around and toss about the corpses of demons but these used to be _people_… She pulled the crown from the head of the martyr and looked at it briefly before tossing it at him. He caught it more out of reflex than anything and just looked between it and his companion.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, holding the bloodied, cold thing slightly away from himself.

"Put it on." Katherine said this as though it were obvious that he should wear a dead man's crown.

"Why?" he grumbled, inspecting it.

"It didn't match the rest of his garb, I presume that he obtained it here." she paused briefly before he saw the smile reach her eyes "And it certainly will not fit my head."

"Are you trying to tell me I have a big head?" he asked, raising a brow but placing the cold metal over his short hair anyway.

"Are you implying that you do not?" Katherine teased. The partial devil rolled his eyes and was about to give her some smart words of his own when the snow swirled and gusted around them, the pair both raising arms as though it would assist them against the biting cold. When it died down again there was a whole portion of the castle in view that Nero was certain had _not_ been there before.

"Gonna be honest, was not expecting _that_." he said, already walking forward, crown dropping to the tiles along the way, he was eager to get out of this blasted wind. He may be more used to it now but having grown up on a temperate island had not done much for his tolerance of cold climates. Katherine followed him silently as he opened the door to reveal a large staircase leading upward. They both looked at each other and then began up the stairs, the large suits of armor watching them as they ascended. The room was eerily silent, even the wind from outside seemed extremely muted; Nero found himself trying to feel about for another demonic presence but there was nothing there.

As they crested the stairs they found themselves in a large throne room, both thrones occupied, one of them with a living breathing woman in a strange helmet, the other with a large pool of blood that had long since dried to dark browns against the reddish carpet. Nero wondered if the woman could see, and if she could, how she'd put up with the sight sitting next to her. The woman's head lifted as they entered the throne room proper and her voice echoed out from beneath the helmet.

"Visitor… I claim no subjects, but here lieth Our throne. Kneel afore Us… or get thee gone." there was a certain calm confidence in her words, like she knew she commanded respect and hell to anyone who didn't show it. Nero glanced at Katherine out of the corner of his eye, his partner simply started forward, kneeling into a gracious bow before the throne. Nero sighed softly and joined her. He may not have respected the Order of the Sword but he did remember how to pay proper respect, even if he didn't do it often. The woman, Queen, he supposed, lifted her chin ever so slightly in acceptance of their humility.

"Visitor... Moon-scented hunter… I am Annalise, Queen of Castle Cainhurst. Ruler of the Vilebloods, and sworn enemy of the church. Yet, Our people are murdered, and We are prisoner to this wretched mask. What is it thou'rt in search of? Speak thy mind." she said all of this calmly, though Nero wondered if she knew that she was the only one left living in this frigid castle.

"We seek answers." Katherine said, speaking up before Nero had the chance to, though it seemed as good a request as any. He just hoped that they weren't going to have to pay for this request with some horrible sacrifice. Answers in this backwards, nightmare world seemed to have a steep cost, usually one's own sanity.

"Mine knowledge of current events is… limited. Circumstances prevent Us from leaving these grounds, if thine question pertains to such matters We cannot provide enlightenment." she stated, and then paused, waiting for them to speak again. Katherine hesitated and Nero raised his head slightly to gaze upon this Queen, and spoke.

"What are the Vilebloods?" he asked. The last thing he expected was for the Queen to laugh, but she did, briefly, before answering him.

"Art thou an outsider to Our lands?" she said and the partial devil could _feel_ the amusement radiating off of her, he wanted to sigh, why was everyone so surprised that he wasn't from around here? "Vilebloods art Hunters of blood. Our subjects and oft protectors of Cainhurst's noble way of life."

"And can anyone become a Vileblood?" Katherine asked, her eyes sparkling in a way that Nero wasn't sure he liked. She usually only had that look when she was about to do something verging on insane.

"Art thou pledging thineself?" Annalise asked, she'd shifted forward in her throne ever so slightly, clearly intrigued by the idea. Nero wanted to have time to think over joining some random covenant that they'd just heard about today… or last night. Time had taken on a strange, dream-like quality to it.

"Yes." Katherine said with conviction, bowing her head once more. This time Nero did let out the smallest of sighs, of course they weren't going to talk this over…

"Yes." he said, feeling the weight of the Queen's hidden gaze upon him after his companion had spoken.

"Well, well… An odd hunter thou art indeed… We've tired of these piteous nights… Share in Our plight, and take oath against the church. If thou wouldst this path walk… I prithee partake of my rotted blood." she took up a small but incredibly ornate dagger from the table next to her and made a small cut along her wrist and extending the limb to the pair of them. Of course this is how one joined this mysterious group, Nero thought, couldn't just sign a piece of paper or anything… Katherine stood and took the two steps forward to the Queen, kneeling once more and pulling the covering away from her face before leaning in and kissing the blood away in a gesture that Nero felt was far more graceful than it had any right to be. The Hunter stood, bowing deeply and kneeling back in the place that she'd been moments before.

Nero tried to ignore the growing discomfort of nerves jangling in his stomach as he stood and stepped up to the Queen who made no motion but to bend her wrist back, agitating the wound and causing more blood to seep out. He swallowed and tried not to be slightly disgusted by the whole thing. Sure, he'd gained a newfound bloodlust that exceeded that which he'd already had being part devil but that didn't mean that he went around wanting to lick blood off of things like some vampire wannabe. But he wasn't about to back down now and bent down, trying to mimic the casual way that Katherine had performed the action, expecting to only end up with a couple drops on his lips and was instead surprised by the mouthful he'd ended up with. It was thick and bitter and shockingly cold for blood, causing the Devil Hunter to wince as he stood up and took his place back with Katherine. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, hoping that she was ready to leave, the roiling in his stomach and the pounding of his heart made him think that there was something more to the blood that he'd just ingested that he initially thought.

"Might we take our leave, Queen?" Katherine said gently. The masked woman raised her chin in acknowledgement of the words.

"We await thy return, for the honor of Cainhurst." she said in simple dismissal. The duo both stood and started back down the many, many stairs. At the base Nero turned to Katherine.

"What happened to wanting answers?" he asked, more than a bit agitated "Also, what the _fuck_ was with that vampire shit that we both just did?" he hissed, trying to keep his voice low. He had no idea how good the Queen's hearing was and didn't want to insult her.

"Most of our questions pertain to current events, or near enough. I do not think she has much awareness of anything outside this room. I do not know if she is even aware that all of her people are murdered, not just some of them. Anything else I would like to ask, pertaining to the 'corrupted blood' and Cainhurst in general, would likely be answered with cryptic nonanswers. You heard the way she spoke too did you not?" Katherine said. Nero sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Yeah she weirdly reminded me of some of the priests where I grew up, though most of them weren't that bad, even in sermons. That doesn't explain why we just up and joined some sketchy group out of the blue."

"You were free to decline."

"After you just did it with no questions asked in front of a Queen? Yeah right." the partial devil rolled his eyes. Katherine glared at him, clearly nonplussed herself.

"And I should have done what, do tell? Rejected her outright?" she snapped. They both just glared at one another for several moments before Nero broke the eye contact.

"Well now what? This place seems to be a dead end."

"Or a place with more questions than answers. And none pertaining to the Paleblood." she mused, looking out at the gusting snow on the rooftop. Nero considered briefly how strange it was that they entered the castle's throne room from a rooftop but the idea of the Queen in that strange mask whisked the thought away. There were stranger things here than how to get to the throne room. Katherine turned back to him.

"Do you have a preference for where we turn to for answers next?" she asked, mask still pulled down around her neck. The partial devil noticed that the Queen's blood had stained her lips a brighter red than normal and he wondered if his were the same. It was a disquieting thought.

"I don't, I just want to go home." Nero said bluntly. Reflecting on how long he'd been here was always an effort in futility but he sometimes did anyway. He wondered if Kyrie was missing him yet, if Nico had begun looking for him, if any time had passed at all back home or if this would be some strange groundhog day bullshit if he ever got back. That was an uncomfortable thought, never being able to escape this hellish nightmare. Perhaps he'd died and this was his hell, forced to fight through strange nightmares for all-

"Nero?" the partial devil blinked at the hand on his shoulder, flinching when he looked up at the too many eyes watching in worry from Katherine's head. Another blink and they were gone, hidden beyond the veil once more.

"What?" he asked, swallowing the suddenly thick saliva in his mouth.

"We'll get you back to your home." she said it with such conviction that for a moment, the hunter believed her.

"Well for now let's get back to the Dream. I'm tired of freezing my ass off." he grumbled, still shaken by both the idea of never returning and the horror he'd just seen.

-Devil's Hunt-

The path of travel was no worse than usual and upon waking in the Dream, Nero had to take a moment to collect himself from the horrific visions that always plagued the space between. Katherine took a few moments to speak to the Doll, Nero took the time to paw through their meager collection of spare clothes and shoes to see if there was anything he could replace his currently falling apart wardrobe with. He'd already switched out his shoes for some other leather boots that had been in the chest, they weren't as stylish as the ones he'd entered this nightmare with but they'd lost the fight with the poison filled swamp and it was that or go barefoot. The hunter pulled out a coat, not entirely dissimilar from what Katherine was wearing and shook it out, holding it up and debating.

"Gives you the look of a proper Hunter." Gherman's voice cut in. Nero startled slightly, the old man was capable of moving eerily quietly and if he didn't know better he'd say that he just teleported about the Dream.

"Not sure if I want to be a 'Proper Hunter'." Nero scoffed, tempted to toss the garment back into the box that he'd pulled it from just to spite the old man. Not that he truly had anything against the old hunter, the man was kind enough when he was completely with it.

"You don't get to choose, boy." Gehrman said gently, a world weariness in his eyes and once more Nero wondered what the man's story was. He knew that Gehrman had been a Hunter, but what his life had been before that? Katherine had no idea either, and if the Doll knew, she wouldn't speak of it. Gehrman coughed roughly, the spasms wracking his whole body. Nero put a hand on his back soothingly but was mildly surprised when it was slapped away.

"I don't…" more hacking coughs "I don't need your pity." the old man snapped, the coughs slowly subsiding. "For better or worse this Dream sustains me, you needn't spend your worries on me boy." He looked up at the devil hunter with steely gray eyes, clear and without the milky haze that often accompanied age. "Life often decides our path, with or without our desires, there's no use in fighting it, do the best with the hand you're dealt." Nero looked back to the coat in his hands and then turned, about to speak to Gherman again only to realize that he'd disappeared. The partial devil sighed and shrugged out of his current coat; there were too many holes in it anyway.

When he found Katherine again she was kneeling next to one of the gravestones, placing odd items at its base. She gave him a brief glance before turning back to what she was doing.

"It fits you well." was the only comment she made. Nero nodded and knelt next to her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, wrinkling his nose at the coppery smell that lingered out of the small chalice, undoubtedly filled with blood of some kind.

"Performing a ritual to enter the Pthumerian crypts buried deep beneath Yharnam." she said, pouring some other strange blood into the chalice and swirling it gently, as though it were a fine wine and not mouldy ass blood. Nero watched, she seemed to know what she was doing and he wondered what old book she'd found this in and whether it would work as intended.

"What will you do? If you are successful in finding a way to your home?" she interrupted his thoughts and he looked at her curiously.

"First of all give Nico hell for not doing enough research on missions before accepting them. Go home, kiss my girlfriend, go back to fighting demons, probably research this place, see what I can find on other worlds." he paused "What about you?"

"Try to find the life I led before." she said "I wonder who I used to be, it would be… satisfying to know who that was. Perhaps I will see the sunrise in Yharnam and perhaps things will be better." she bit the end of one finger, dripping the blood in and giving it one more swirl before looking at him.

"Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Nero snorted, putting a hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and dribbled the blood over the gravestone and placed the chalice at its base. The tiny creature leapt up around their feet and the world faded around them.

A/N: So they've met Analise! At first I was very excited about that until I got to that moment and went "right she talks like a weirdo" and then struggled to figure out how she would say things. But yeah, progress has been made and I've made the decision that they're delving into the chalice dungeons, not sure if I'm going to regret that…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	30. Deeper Reaches of the Labyrinth

A/N: Here we go again, into what I consider the "most soothing" part of Bloodborne. I quite enjoy putting on a podcast and cranking out a few Chalice Dungeons, at least until I get to the Loran Darkbeast… screw that thing. It's a bitch and a half to fight with the Blades of Mercy.

Disclaimer: this won't be visible for several weeks, but you know what won't change in several weeks? My ownership status of these two franchises

Deeper Reaches of the Labyrinth

Katherine was convinced that they'd been down here for years. It felt like it'd been years anyway. With no sun and no hunger or thirst or any other bodily function grabbing at her attention it was hard to tell any sort of time. Not that any of it had been easy before these dungeons. Everything had just become a repetitive cycle of opening doors, digging through musty tombs for strange ritual ingredients that she knew were useful, though not how, and killing things… lots and lots of slaughter of the various denizens of the dungeons. They were soaked in blood and no matter how many times they returned to the Dream the Hunter never felt like she was cleaned of it, too often they found themselves falling into the bloodlust, nearly turning on each other as often as the beasts of the dungeons. Something about the bloodlust felt different now though… there was a bizarre clarity to it, like the veil that parted the worlds was… gone. Or rather that it was sheer, she could see through it from time to time, so close she could touch it, but so far from a petty humans' grasp. It wasn't right to be able to cross that barrier yet.

"You okay?" Nero asked her, some of the golden light fading from his eyes. Katherine shook her head to clear the higher thoughts away. The enemies they'd just fought hadn't been a challenge, far from it in fact, they were cannon fodder, simple minded and weaker still of body, often relying on traps or surprise to overtake their enemies. Unfortunately for them, neither Hunter nor partial devil were fooled by such things. No, the fire in their blood had come more from the easy overpowering of their enemies, of the waves of them cut down before blade and saw, blood spattering across stone and skin and- Katherine cut the thought off, swallowing past her suddenly dry throat.

"I am fine." she said simply, stepping past the devil hunter to pull the lever that the larger enemy had been guarding. Most of these dungeons had a simple rhythm to them, kill the bigger guy, pull the lever, open the door that had been unlocked, continue on to a bigger still enemy, kill it, and continue downward. Occasionally they'd surface to the Dream to perform another ritual, to be able to continue deeper down into the depths. Nero had asked how deep these things went, she had no idea. All she knew was that the true physical entrance was in Yharnam, that the city was built overtop of them; that the prospectors had found the Great Ones down there, that that was where the Blood had come from. The Dream simply allowed them to 'shortcut' between them using ritual and sacrifice.

"How deep are we willing to go?" Nero said as they came up on the now unlocked door and pulled the lever to raise the portcullis, the ancient machinery creaking and groaning as it moved for the first time in a gods' age.

"As deep as the answers are." Katherine said, keeping her eyes forward, toward their next prey.

-Devil's Hunt-

The dungeons were becoming increasingly difficult to simply hack and slash their way through, the defenders became more viscous, the environment more dangerous. They'd been working their way through several levels that were disturbed by an ancient wind, sand and dust kicked up into the air. Stranger still were the bits of sparks that drifted through the air, Nero had tried to get them to land on his sword, curiosity in his bright eyes but the sparks refused to be distrubed from whatever pattern they were intent to play out. The partial devil had mused on them and their source for a while until they rounded a corner, noticing a creature they'd yet to encounter before.

It was long, gangly, almost _stretched_ in appearance, more a corpse than a creature, some sort of metal scythe wrapped loosely in boney fingers. The long, stringy, dark hair was only slightly disturbed by the wind and it stood, slack-jawed and staring ahead at something the duo couldn't see, twitching occasionally in a way that sent a disquieted shiver down Katherine's spine. Nero sheathed his blade, placing one of the metal arms in the place that his real one had been just moments before and clicking something into place.

The clicking had clearly been too loud, as the creature's head snapped to face them, blank sockets focusing on them in a way that was far too similar to that of a creature with proper eyes. It was stock still for a fraction of a second and then it _screamed_, charging forward and leaping with a speed that shocked both of them. Nero just barely brought up the metal arm in time to block and Katherine rolled out the way. She came up swinging, twin blades slicing through the air and biting into skin that felt more like dried leather. The creature wasn't done with them yet though, swinging a blade at Katherine and though she ducked it caught her across the cheek. It sliced through fabric and flesh alike and she hissed in vague pain before retaliating, swinging her own blades back in a frantic matter until it slammed a bony arm into her and sent her tumbling back ass over teakettle.

The Hunter looked up and rolled just in time for the two scythes to come clashing down into the stone that she'd just occupied. Then the sound of rumble and fire washed through the space the creature was, Nero's fiery sword alighting it's dry skin and killing it swiftly. Katherine rose to her feet, more than a bit startled by the creature that had come up on them so quickly.

"That was… unpleasant." she said, wheezing slightly from where it had slammed its arm into her ribs. Nero offered her a hand up and she gratefully took it, rising to her feet and looking at the still smoking corpse. The partial devil just snorted

"Yeah, you could say _that_ again." he said, sheathing his sword on his back once more. Katherine sometimes wondered how he kept his clothes from catching on fire, the flames and heat on that blade didn't disappear instantly.

"It moved faster than I would expect for a creature of that size." she said as they peered into the room it had come from. Thankfully the lever that they were seeking was inside with only a few rats now guarding it.

"I quit trying to use size as a judge of speed, some demons will surprise the heck out of you if you do that." Nero said, yanking the lever against its rusty gears. It protested with a shriek and then clattered back to its original position. In the distance they could hear the mechanical click of a door unlocking. "I wonder why they locked up so much of their tombs, who would _want_ to come down here?" The devil hunter continued as they made a casual pace back toward the now unlocked door in the main room of this level. Katherine shot him a knowing look and he just rolled his eyes.

"Other than us, of course, I'm pretty sure we've both completely lost it, and therefore, don't count." Nero said, Katherine scoffed as she stepped forward to lift the portcullis that was blocking their path.

"Then perhaps it is to guard against madmen. Yharnam certainly doesn't seem to be in short supply of those." she said teasingly. These small respites, tiny tastes of normalcy that they both shared with good-natured ribbing and casual paces helped her feel more human. It was both relieving and saddening, it reminded her of what was lost, what she felt she was losing the more insight into this nightmare she gained, what had been gone from the moment she'd awakened on that transfusion table.

They both shared a look, wondering if the other was prepared to dive back into the bloody madness that would enshroud them the moment the huge door was opened. Katherine tightened the grip on her cleaver and their unspoken break was over, Nero pushed open the door and they both stepped inside. The bones on the floor sparked suddenly, rising up of their own accord and roaring their displeasure to the ceiling above.

-Devil's Hunt-

Katherine needed to sit down. This was all just becoming too much. The Hunter had already predicted that things would become far more difficult the deeper they delved, that much had become apparent after the first few however she hadn't been anticipating their hardest enemy being their own bloodlust. Falling into it was becoming an almost surreal experience, like diving under deep water, rocked by heavy currents and every motion their body made was not quite their own, dictated instead by the motion of the waves. She could _tell_ whenever she started to fall too deep. This had been one of those fights. The current set of dungeons was a strange, almost arcane tinted place where the veil was as thin as tissue paper. And the enemy they'd just fought? Stranger still. Somehow, the Hunter knew, just upon seeing it that they were viewing something special, something magnificent. Something… abandoned. Why had the others left their Kin, their Daughter down here while they transcended the stars?

"Katherine you okay?" Nero asked, equally as covered in blood as she was, she knew it was blood, it was all the wrong color but she _knew _somehow and seeing it coating and sticking to his clothes was sad. Was… wrong?

"I…" she looked down at the floor instead, hoping the solid ground would help to keep some of the glimpses into knowledge she didn't want at bay. "I need to sit here." she said. Nero didn't question it, she could hear how hard he was breathing himself. Likely fighting with the bloodlust on his own terms. It hadn't been an easy fight. She'd died at least twice amongst it and Nero had been relying so heavily on his demonic form that it was almost startling to see his human face. The silence was long. It could have minutes, it could have been hours, the Hunter couldn't tell but she finally raised her head and looked up, no longer feeling as though the world made _too_ much sense. Nero also looked calmer now as well, didn't have the near crazed expression that he often adopted when under the influence of the blood-drunkeness.

"What was that?" he asked, shifting his position on the ground a bit.

"She was where the Church initially gained access to the Old Blood." Katherine said, Nero only gave her a strange look, clearly not the answer he was expecting.

"I meant with you. That didn't seem like the normal bloodlust." he said gently. The Hunter nodded

"Ever since…" she paused to think on it "the Lecture Hall, reality has been… clearer, different. I am still uncertain if the change is a good thing. It makes the blood-drunkeness… different. I am more aware, however in no more control of my own actions. It seems almost that the veil that parts our own world from others is easier to peel back."

"That sounds like it sucks." Nero said, he seemed more comfortable in his own skin again and shuffled over, nudging her knee with his own, neither of them caring in the slightest that they were coated in gore. "You going to be okay?" he asked. Katherine took a deep breath.

"I am uncertain." she said simply, pulling the hat from her head to wipe the now cold sweat from her brow.

"That's okay, this whole thing is… bonkers." he finished, looking up at the top of the room where starlight seemed to gather against all reason. He sighed and looked at her again, expression hard to read under all the grime "You ready to keep going? Or is this answer enough?" he asked. Katherine paused to ponder his words, letting them seep in and looking at the chalice that she was turning over and over in her hands.

"There's more to know deeper down, I know it."

-Devil's Hunt-

"Do you ever wonder how long we've been at this?" Nero asked, they had paused to open various chests and coffins, and Katherine grabbed the various materials that may have been of use to them for the next ritual. This dungeon had been particularly brutal, sapping their strength the deeper into it they went. The watchdog that they'd fought having downed her once right before they'd managed to kill it.

"Much and more time, and yet no time at all." she responded easily, time seemed to just fall into place as it needed to, the sense of it all just beyond her grasp, sometimes the logic was perfectly clear, sometimes it was as dense as mud. This was a clearer moment. Nero didn't seem to think so, based on the look he shot in her direction but he continued to dig through the chest that he'd opened, holding up a small cup of some sort of ritualistic blood. Katherine shook her head and he tossed it off to the side where it spattered on the floor unceremoniously.

"How did you do so well against that dog-beast?" she asked, giving voice to something that had been on her mind since the fight. She always came back during their battles but she was confident that Nero had yet to suffer mortal wounds during one of these encounters. Most of the time she was able to keep her jealousy in check. Most of the time. Nero gave her a smirk, almost as if he knew and wanted to rub it in that his own skill kept him alive far better than her own did.

"Not the first time I've fought a large fiery monster, probably won't be the last either. These beasts aren't like demons, there's a lot of the same, and sometimes there are in demons too but most of the time, you never know what you're going to get. You have to be able to adjust and think fast, one wrong move and you're done. I've just had a lot of practice, it becomes second nature," he shrugged "and then sometimes Dante and I would get into competitions where-" he stopped, a frown crossing over his face. He sighed and hung his head, the sudden remembrance of what had come before overwhelming him. Katherine hesitated but then put a hand on his shoulder.

"Tell me more, if it is not too painful to think back on." she said, wishing, not for the first time, that she had a past to think back on. Nero glanced at her, appreciation and longing warring for control of his expression and finally he huffed.

"Alright, well there was this one time that-"

The conversation carried them both forward as they pushed through this particular floor, winding rooms and balconies and lots and lots of enemies to rip and tear and shred apart. Nero had just finished another tale of spectacular fights and prideful demons when they pushed open the doors to the final room of the dungeon. It appeared empty for only a moment before a creature launched itself off of the ceiling and landed in front of them.

"Oh hey, it's our spidery friend, this should be easy." Nero grinned as Katherine drew her blades, ready for the fight.

-Devil's Hunt-

"Y'know I think I take back what I said, that magic hit like a truck." Nero grumbled, meeting her at the lantern where she was still readjusting to the feeling of all of her bones not being crushed.

"Is it dead?" she asked when she felt like the feeling of death had eased its claws from her soul.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't." Nero said, granted she felt they'd been close when she'd miss-timed a dodge and gotten squashed but she wasn't sure. The devil hunter also looked worse for wear, a large dark bruise on the side of his face slowly fading as they spoke and some of the red blood staining his clothes likely from himself rather than the monster they'd fought.

"It can't be easy, covering for me until I get back." she said wearily, feeling a bit like an anchor, keeping the partial devil back. However he just shrugged

"I didn't exactly have a partner in combat before this, so honestly, the company's pretty nice, even if you are a bit off in the head." he poked her forehead with a grimy finger which she glared at. The resurrection didn't get rid of all of the holes but it at least cleaned the muck from her clothes and skin. Nero just laughed and held up another chalice.

"You ready to unlock the deeper reaches of the labyrinth?" he asked, giving the ornate cup a little shake. Katherine sighed, she needed to know what lay at the bottom but she was unsure how much more of this she could take.

"Onward and downward." she rose to her feet, before turning to the lantern to transport them back to the Dream where they could prepare the proper offering to break the seal, she had a feeling they were nearing the end of the dungeons, she could only hope that that sensation was correct and that they didn't have ages yet to travel into the depths.

A/N: Okay so more chalice dungeons polished off, only a bit more to go on them. Poor Nero's getting really homesick and I can't blame him. Katherine's more on the homesick for something she's never had scale. Anyway

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	31. Come On

A/N: Hoo… Okay so moving into a house is a lot of work… My partner and I just repainted and now need to put trim back up but I can't wait to feel like I actually live there instead of my belongings just tossed willy nilly everywhere…

Disclaimer: I'm not sure what I own right now, but it's sure as hell not these titles

Come On

Nero had a sinking feeling in his gut. They were standing before another door, yet another goddamned door. Every time they stood before a door like this there was something large and horrifying on the other side, at least that's what it seemed like to the partial devil after having spent what felt like years in the depths of the dungeons. They were both certain that they were coming up on the end of the dungeons, but there was something about this particular door that made Nero hesitant to open it. He glanced over at Katherine who's eyes were set in a determined glare at the vast metal door before them. The devil hunter heaved a heavy sigh and was about to speak up, to ask if she was ready to go into the room when there was the faint sound of crying beyond the door.

"What was that?" he asked, feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise. That sounded like a baby crying, why was there a baby crying this deep into the dungeons?

"I… I don't know." Katherine said, her expression shifting into concern as the sound reached her ears as well. They both paused, just listening for several breaths, the sound ceased and didn't return. Nero looked over at his partner again, watching her take a deep breath.

"Let's go." she said, not meeting his eyes, instead staring at the door ahead. Nero nodded slowly and put his weight behind the door, ancient hinges ever so slowly creaking open. Beyond the door in a room predominantly filled with a single altar stood a lone woman. She was tall, extremely so, but they'd both come to expect that with those they found in the dungeons. The same could be said for her milky pale skin but she was the first one who was wearing more than beat up rags or armor. Her dress was elegant, old but beautiful, and clearly displayed her pregnant belly. She turned toward them, eyes as dark as the night sky and her hand clasped at her chest. A closer look showed that they weren't simply clasped there in some sort of prayer but bound together at the wrists. She didn't move immediately, perhaps simply curious of the strangers that had entered what appeared to be a place of worship.

Nero felt any and all fight leave him. This… this was what awaited them? A woman, pregnant and bound, locked in a crypt far below the Waking World? What was wrong with this place? He was still tense but was no longer reaching for his weapons, he glanced at Katherine, who, to his surprise, didn't look confused or bewildered, but just as determined as ever. What did she see that he didn't? He glanced back at the woman who lowered her face into her hands and the Hunter next to him started forward to attack.

"Wait! Katherine what're you-" he didn't get to finish the question as bloody spikes erupted out of the ground, one of them catching the middle of his thigh. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared and left the partial devil swearing and taking a couple of stumbling steps as his healing kicked in to take care of it. Katherine was already forward, twin blades flashing rapidly in her hands at the woman in white. It only took a couple of hits before the woman cried out and there was a _crack_ as the manacles that bound her hands were snapped clean in two. Nero had felt the wound on his thigh close up enough to no longer inhibit his gait and stepped into the battle with a heavy heart.

What had this woman been through that her first reaction upon seeing strangers was to attack them rather than attempt to speak? He had taken down demons that had tried to trick him and pull on his heartstrings on plenty of occasions but this? This felt different somehow.

She'd pulled a dagger out from somewhere and was using it in tandem with her blood to attack them. Nero heard the sound of a baby crying once more when he'd taken a backstep to reload Blue Rose and saw Katherine get caught up in some sort of arcane magic. He flew back into the fight to distract their enemy from his friend and quickly found himself facing five rather than one of them. The duplication quickly turned out to be just that, weaker copies generated in desperation that went down with a swift bullet between the eyes. In fact the original didn't outlast her copies by long, collapsing with a dying burble of blood escaping her lips and a hand reached for the ceiling. Her blood continued oozing onto the floor, Nero and Katherine standing and watching silently.

"This is wrong." Nero said quietly, reaching down to close the dead woman's uncanny eyes. Sure she'd attacked them and much of this nightmare of a world was kill or be killed that didn't mean that he couldn't show respect for the dead.

"She was a queen." Katherine said, matching Nero's soft tone. The partial devil glanced up at her, the curiosity plain on his face. "She appeared before me just after I defeated Rom, almost seeming to beckon the blood moon in. However I believe she saw us as a threat when we appeared here before her."

"Yeah," Nero scoffed "I would too."

"We had little option Nero." the Hunter said, kneeling down next to him and looking at the fallen monarch before reaching a hand into one of the many bloody wounds that littered her body and pulling something from within. Nero wrinkled his nose at the squelching sound that was produced but the lack of reaction by his gag reflex spoke volumes of how many horrors had been performed and witnessed over his life. What Katherine pulled from within the body however, did cause him to balk slightly however.

"What is that?" he asked as the thing dripped loose bits of gore and blood over the Hunter's hands and onto the floor.

"A part of the Queen's consciousness, a continuation of her life." Katherine said, holding the mass gently for something she's just ripped out of another person. Nero noted something that looked _way_ too much like tiny fingers and turned around, refusing to look or consider it any further. There was too much wrong with what they'd just done already.

"We should return to the Dream." he said "We're done down here yeah?" the feeling of the miles and miles of stone and dreams and nightmares above them was starting to feel overly oppressive, he needed to see the sky, no matter how fucked up it was.

"Yes. I believe we are safe to return." she said, her footsteps approaching behind him as he took several stiff paces over to the lantern that hadn't been visible prior to the death of the queen. He glanced to his side as he knelt next to it, meeting Katherine's bright gaze; there was almost _something_ behind that gaze… a depth, a space, knowledge that should never be known. The partial devil shook it off and concentrated on the lamp, trying to mentally prepare for the space between spaces.

-Devil's Hunt-

"Traversing that other nightmare realm feels like it was in another lifetime." Nero said as they approached the large building. Katherine nodded.

"Another lifetime moments ago." she said and Nero wasn't sure if he should be appreciative or disturbed by how aptly that described the situation. There wasn't much time to consider however as the largest spider that the devil hunter had ever fought dropped off the ceiling, it's brood not far behind it.

"Well good thing they called an exterminator eh?" he ribbed Katherine before using his Breaker to gain some verticality, revving Red Queen as the air wooshed past him. Being able to get over them proved to be the best strategy, turning what would have been a somewhat difficult fight into a cakewalk. Before either of them had started to break a sweat there were a large number of spider corpses scattered on the ground of the large church-like building.

"Well that was a bit anticlimactic." Nero sighed as they picked their way around the curled arthropods and into a long hallway.

"Better than death." Katherine said, closing her cleaver again and pausing to open a chest. She rummaged around, tossed a couple of bullets to Nero and kicked it closed again. The partial devil took the bullets with a vague grimace, if he ever made it out of here, Blue Rose was going to need some real work. The higher silver content in the bullets did a lot to take down beasts and was a good option in a pinch when he didn't have the concentration to generate some out of demonic energy but they were really gumming up the works of his gun. The white light of the moon illuminated the catwalk that led to the next building and the man that stood between them and their destination. Katherine pulled out the twin blades that she'd been carrying around lately and Nero put a hand out

"Can we at least try to talk to this one?" he asked. The Hunter gave him a skeptical look but sheathed the Blades at her thigh with a shrug. Nero removed his Breaker, it tended to confuse or enthrall everyone here and he didn't need that while dealing with a potentially hostile individual.

"Hello?" Nero called out, waving a hand at the person. They jolted and turned around, apparently not aware of their presence prior to that moment. The stranger was a young man, wearing fine clothes and spectacles. He was holding a long, thin sword and what appeared to Nero to be a watering can of some sort.

"Who sends you?" the man called, the tension with which he held his weapon didn't bode well to the partial devil who glanced at Katherine for a hopefully appropriate answer.

"Gherman." she called out. There was a long pause and Nero was afraid that their simple attempt at peace was about to be shot down when the man called back.

"Gherman disappeared long ago, who are you? Did Mensis send you?" he called back. Katherine hesitated for a long moment, Nero had heard her mention Mensis before, in their long discussions of the different factions that had sprouted from Byrgenwerth, clearly the hostility of the man depended on the answer.

"No, we are simple Hunters on the search for answers, may we approach? My throat is parched from all this shouting." Katherine called out across the gap. Another pause that seemed too long for comfort and the man shouted back.

"You may."

The man turned out to be far younger than Nero anticipated, looking to be a few years younger than the partial devil himself and what he'd first taken for a watering can appeared to be some sort of primitive flamethrower. He hadn't set down his weapons but he did hold them a bit more relaxed. He gave them a critical eye, focussing on the blood and grime that coated them only briefly and instead spending far longer on the clothes they wore and the weapons they carried. Seeming satisfied with his inspection he sheathed the sword and offered a hand.

"My name is Edgar, what brings you this far into the Nightmare?" he asked as though they'd met at the grocery and not in the middle of a beast filled horror show.

"Nero, and this is my compatriot, Katherine, like she said before, we're looking for answers." the partial devil said with an easy grin, hoping to disarm the man's tension somewhat.

"Ahh, but what are the questions?" he asked, a glint in his eye that gave the partial devil pause. Just how stable was this guy? He sounded relatively sane, which was pretty good for this place, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to whirl and stab them in the back as soon as they went on their way.

"What is the source of the Nightmare for one." Katherine piped up, Edgar's gaze snapped to her red one.

"I have often wondered the same thing, something to do with Mensis for certain." he said. Nero raised a brow.

"I thought all the people in this Nightmare had to do with Mensis." the partial devil mused. Edgar stiffened as though the words themselves stung.

"You aren't." he said smoothly, perhaps too smoothly. His hands had tightened on his weapons once more, clearly on edge with the mention of the school and what people's associations with it may be.

"No we're not, that's fair," Nero said, nodding placatingly "we hold no love for Mensis, you're welcome to share your opinion with us friend, we won't hold it against you."

"I…" Edgar seemed hesitant and Katherine was watching curiously but he sighed and plowed on ahead "I'm here to investigate into the School of Mensis. I'm with the Choir, we've suspected for a long while that Mensis was going to attempt a ritual that they had not the insight to perform to its fullest capacity. That they could not see the true _cost _of this endeavor. I haven't yet discovered what they might be hiding in their twisted minds, but I shall."

"Find the nightmare newborn, and silence its harrowing cries." Katherine said. Nero glanced to the side at her, it seemed an odd bit of phrase to bring up but it seemed to make perfect sense to the man before them

"Of course…" he said, turning to look at the moon that hung far lower than it should in the nightmare sky above them, big and bright and white. "Excuse me, if you don't mind, I must consult my notes on this." he nodded to them politely and turned, striding swiftly down the bridge that they had convened on and disappeared into the building that they had their own sights on.

"What…?" Nero said, looking at the space that they'd seen Edgar disappear into.

"Come on," Katherine said "I believe further answers lie ahead."

-Devil's Hunt-

They could hear the madman before they could see him, laughter and screeches and squalls bouncing off the walls ahead of them. Madmen weren't something that Nero had had to deal with terribly often, Agnus had been crazy but at least he'd been able to hold some semblance of a normal conversation; though Dante had spoken of a good handful of wannabe devil sorcerers whom he'd been hired to take down. Whoever was in this place sounded like they'd escaped from a mental asylum. When they finally came upon the speaker the partial devil's suspicions of a crazy person were confirmed, the dark haired man turned to look at them beneath the… bird cage? That he was wearing on his head.

"Ah Kos, or some say Kosm… do you hear our prayers?" he cackled then, the piles of bones before him rising up into a bizarre parody of puppets. "No, we shall not abandon the dream. No one can catch us! No one can stop us now!" and he whirled on his heel, darting into the halls.

"Hey!" Nero darted off after him, trying to keep up in the winding hallways. He turned a hallway, seeing their quarry and Katherine blocking him in on the other side. The partial devil grinned, thinking that they had caught their target but the madman laughed again and simply leapt _through_ the mirror. Nero scrambled up to it, put a hand to it, nothing happened and he slammed his fist into the glass, shattering it.

"It appears our host has other means of travel." Katherine said, twirling her blades in her hands.

"We'll just have to corner him." Nero grumbled, stalking back down the hall, slashing down a marionette on the way.

They split up, chasing the Mensis scholar through winding hallways and destroying mirrors as they went, the devil hunter was quickly getting fed up with the game of cat and mouse. He ended up cornered in a room with a single mirror, Blue Rose barking out a single shot and destroying it before the scholar could jump through. The pair of them ganged up on him, until the man reached his hands toward the skies and there was a flash of white and then the pair of them were being pelted with some sort of rocks.

"The hell was that?!" Nero snapped when he got to his feet, some of the wounds still healing over. The madman was gone and when he heard no response he turned and saw Katherine's lifeless body fading away in a greyish mist.

"Great." he grumbled, charging forward through the doorway that had been opened up on the other side of the room.

"Ah hah hah ha! Ooh! Majestic! A hunter is a hunter, even in a dream… but alas, not too fast! The nightmare swirls and churns unending!" the madman's voice echoed down the stairway as Nero darted up it, muttering curses at the scholar the whole way.

A/N: Poor Katherine, but also a Call Beyond is a bitch. I don't remember struggling much with Micolash, more just getting frustrated with trying to get him into the proper room. But anyway!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	32. Higher Plane

A/N: We're working out way to the end here, probably only a handful more chapters, I'm debating if I want to start a new crossover, go back to my long standing history-timeline thing, start a Vampyr fiction (I blame halloween season for the worsening of my vampire addiction), or if I want to finally start going back and updating some of my older fictions, cleaning them up and moving some over to AO3… hmm… choices…

Disclaimer: Beep Beep booooooop! This is your warning! This person does not own either of these franchises and gains only personal satisfaction from this! Beep Beep booooop!

Higher Plane

Upon opening her eyes at the lantern, Katherine rocketed to her feet, looking around for Nero. Not seeing him materializing next to the lantern meant he'd either survived that arcane strike or her compatriot was gone for good. She hoped it was the former, she'd take the hit to her pride if only to have a partner to walk down this nightmarish road together with. Thankfully the path down toward where they'd been fighting was rather direct and there were few things blocking her path as she dashed as quickly as she could. As she passed by the room in which she'd died she paused long enough to tell that another door had been opened and darted through, taking the stairs two at a time, starting to hear the howls of the madman and the angry shouts of Nero. The fact that his shouts were less words and more just sheer anger didn't bode well, she hoped that she didn't have to fight him off when the madman was no longer a problem… Rounding a corner in time to see Nero crack a blue glowing fist into the man's gut was heavily satisfying however.

The scholar doubled over with an 'oof' sound, slowly rising to his feet, a mad grin spread across his face. He giggled, gibberish falling from his lips the same as the spittle.

"Grant us eyes… _grant us eyes, _plant _eyes_ on our brains to cleanse our beastly idiocy." as he spoke, he began to raise his hands once more, up above his head, in an attempt to cast that arcane meteor shower again. Katherine darted forward, blades already split and in hand, sliding into the madman's chest like a hot knife through butter. He looked at her then, _really_ seeming to see her for the first time, shock painted on his face even as a spatter of blood burst from his mouth. A whine pitched out of the back of his throat when Katherine yanked the blades from his body. He stumbled back, collapsing on one knee.

"Now I'm waking up…" he whined "I'll forget everything…" collapsing finally down onto his back and his last breath wheezing out of blood-filled lungs. Katherine clamped down on the surge of bloodlust that fired through her, she'd only fought for a brief span since awakening, but getting the final blow like that was always exhilarating. She looked over at Nero who was shaking the haze of the fight from his own eyes, he took a singular deep breath and then nodded at her.

"Thanks for that, whatever the hell that spell thing was was not fun to get hit by the first time around. I'm not even sure if I could've dodged it." he said, glancing at the corpse of the man they'd just fought. When he wasn't raving or casting spells at them he was actually rather unassuming, a pale, scrawny scholar who'd had too much of the cosmos poured into his mind. Katherine lit the lantern nearby and said softly

"Is it bad that far too much of his ramblings made perfect sense to me?"

"What all the gibberish that he was spouting out? I could make sense of bits and pieces. If he wasn't so dead set on killing us, I'm sure that we could've made sense of more of it, it seemed like it… corrupted him somehow." the partial devil said, yanking back on the crank to lower a bridge that seemed to lead forward in their current path.

"The perspective of the Great Ones often makes the familiar seem alien." Katherine said over the grinding of gears and chains. Nero glanced at her, something unknowable passing behind his eyes.

"Yeah I think I get that, like some higher plane bullshit, sounds like some of the stuff that the Order would get into when trying to study the strange pseudo-space that some devil's can put weapons in. Crazy physics stuff that goes way beyond me." Nero shrugged and the Hunter said nothing, most of the things that he'd just mentioned were not places or studies she was familiar with but that was alright. Nero always seemed more comfortable when he was able to speak of home, sad and longing for sure but she was plenty willing to be a listener and let him express his homesickness in passing remarks and wistful words.

-Devil's Hunt-

Seeing the results of the School's experiments, kept alive and twisted by the Nightmare, turned Katherine's stomach in a way that the blood and gore no longer could. Creatures fused together that should never have been able to be so… Monsters that stared them down with more eyes than should belong to any living creature. The Hunter only hoped that their waking world counterparts had died on the operating table, not forced to live out the sick existence that they were seeing. Dispatching more shadows the pair of them stopped before a large archway.

"I believe our journey is coming to a culmination here." Katherine said. Nero shot her a deadpan look

"A blind man could've told you that. This," he gestured at the archway "just absolutely screams 'you're about to fight something big and evil and unknowable'. Y'know someday I'd like to walk into a plaza, or a large amphitheater and not be attacked by the biggest thing in an area." he grumbled. Katherine huffed at that, he did have a point, for all of its mysteries, some parts of this Nightmare were awfully predictable. The wailing of a newborn could be heard as they walked slowly forward. The Hunter wasn't sure how she knew that it was a newborn and not just a baby and tried not to dwell on it. The noise was something that had been ringing in the background for a while now, something that Katherine felt uneasy about; the calcified stone she'd pulled from the Queen in the depths of the dungeon weighing heavily in her coat pocket now and she felt her heart sink as they walked forward toward the carriage that sat ominously in the middle of the stony clearing. They had barely cleared the archway when… something… fell from the sky. Katherine hadn't been watching to see what plane it had descended from but it curled protectively around the carriage before looking up at them with a face unviewable by mere mortals.

The Hunter took a deep breath, twirling her Blades once, the form of this creature was on the very edge of her awareness. It was a protector, she knew that much, and the cries of the infant and the carriage were more than enough to gather insight into what it was protecting. She would take no pleasure in this fight…

Perhaps to those who were unaccustomed to fighting, to the mere beasts of this Nightmare, this creature would pose a challenge. But between the pair of them… Both of them were well experienced fighters, had fought things much bigger and much worse than this creature that swung at them wildly with bladed arms and twirled when that wasn't enough and died on the blades of the hunters when that too was not enough. It collapsed to the ground in a pile of cloth and feathers, physical body still difficult to perceive upon death.

Nero walked up to the carriage, trepidation and curiosity warring on his face.

"It's empty." he said hesitantly, looking up at the sky, obviously searching for a source to the sourceless wailing. Katherine paused, reached into her coat, and walking forward, gently set the calcified remains into the carriage. It was a horrific sight to see, but it felt like the right thing to do, a way to correct a wrong committed long ago. The wailing faded away, the carriage… disappearing from sight and a lantern remaining in its place.

"I don't believe that this Nightmare is truly stable any longer." she said, lighting the lantern with a small click.

"Or maybe it will fade into a gentler dream." Nero said beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We should go back to the Dream, I don't know why but I have a sinking feeling about it." he said, Katherine nodded and knelt, the tiny messengers accepting her request for the closest thing she had to a home and pulling her through the layers of the worlds.

-Devil's Hunt-

Upon opening her eyes in the Dream a sense of dread fell over her heart. The Workshop… the safe haven that had equipped and taught and sheltered herself and Nero was alight, burning brightly, the heat enough that Katherine could feel it from where she stood. She ran forward, thinking to grab some of the more valuable items from its shelves, to ensure that Gherman was not trapped inside but once in the building… The heat dissipated, the roar of the fire ceased, it was like the outward appearance mattered none at all to the space within. Katherine pulled the mask from her face, exiting the building once more to see Nero, having shaken the effects of stepping between realities, start rushing forward.

"This is no longer a safe haven." she said, putting an arm on his chest. He stopped and looked at her in confusion.

"Yeah, it's on fucking fire! Aren't you worried about the stuff inside?" He was about to push through her when she shook her head

"It remains a workshop, but not a place of rest." Katherine said simply. He gave her a look of concern and pushed past her into the building. He needed to see for himself and that was fine, Katherine approached the Doll, who looked down at her pleasantly.

"Good hunter, you have come… Dawn will soon break… This night and this dream will end, Gehrman awaits you, at the foot of the great tree. Go on good hunter." she said gently, hands still clasped together, still as placid as ever. Katherine tilted her head, she'd seen the tree through the gate, but it seemed a closed off place in the Dream, forbidden to her. Why was Gherman asking her in now? Nero was still inspecting the mystery of the Workshop but she knew he would follow her in his own time. She walked down the cobbled path to the open field and large tree that the Doll had mentioned. True to her words, Gehrman sat below it, staring out at the expanse of nothing that stretched in all directions from the Hunter's Dream. He looked up at her as she approached, eyes weary as he began to speak. Katherine had the strangest impression that he'd done this before.

"Good Hunter, you've done well, the night is near its end. Now I will show you mercy. You will die, forget the dream, and awake under the morning sun. You will be freed from this terrible Hunter's Dream." he said. The Hunter looked back the way she'd come, then back to the old man before her.

"What about Nero? What will become of him?" she asked

"The devil has earned his peace just as you have Good Hunter, he will receive the same offer." he said gently, the briefest smile passing over his face. Katherine nodded, she would miss the partial devil but he deserved the opportunity to go home, to forget this horrible nightmare.

"Kneel." he commanded. She obeyed, bowing her head forward as she heard the old man stand and the clink-scratch of an equally old weapon being drawn. For all the knowledge that she'd gained, all the _sight_ she had, this was not something she wanted to see coming… She closed her eyes, ready to _wake up_…

A/N: Okay so this chapter is shorter because… well this is the most opportune transition point and the next chapter will likely be the last so

Till next time,

-Winged Element


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